Negative Emotions Can Make You Very Creative, But…
I’m only happen when it rains. – Garbage (the band)
Negative emotions can be a great source of inspiration. The very first written stories in Greek plays were classified as Comedies and Tragedies. A famous example is when a man becomes king only later to realize that he had killed his own father and married his mother in the process (Oedipus Rex).
For all the good news that is in the Bible, there are also quite a few stories that end in tragedy, like the relationship between John the Baptist and Herod.
Clearly, negative emotions can be a great source of creativity.
Tragedies let us know not to go down a wrong path. They highlight the dangers of a ineffective mindset.
There is a difference, however, between negative emotions and the victim mentality.
It starts with the difference between thinking and dwelling. Thinking is productive – we can create when we are thinking. After the grieving process, we can illustrate how terrible events can benefit our future actions and thoughts.
Dwelling, on the other hand, gets you nowhere. When we start to dwell on negativity, it is easy to move into a victim place. When that happens, our creativity suffers.
The Benefits of A Victim Mentality
What does the victim mentality do? It makes you the center of the universe – a universe you don’t even want to be in.
It takes a great level of intelligence to maintain a thinking process as stupid as this. Because it is such a great undertaking, we take pride in it. It highlights our intellect. Too bad it also highlights our lack of wisdom.
For all our twisting, wringing, stretching, and stuffing, we only contort ourselves.
If you are the center of your universe, it is difficult to write from the perspective of a different person. It is nearly impossible to keep in mind how somebody else will consider your work.
It is seductive. Why? Because we not only make ourselves the center of the universe – we also twist everything around us to show how unrelated events are a direct attack on ourselves.
To preserve our sense of self, we may even stop creating anything meaningful because ‘nobody will care or understand it’.
Creatives Have MAJOR Problems With This
If your job is to create things, and you only succeed when you are brilliant, you are going to face a lot of rejection. Most of it will sound like “Sorry, but this isn’t for us.” OR “Give me a business card and we’ll stay in touch.”
Other times it will be much harsher. Something you thought was smart didn’t connect, and people will tell you so.
It will even be cruel! Critics only get attention when they say controversial things, so you will often hear a critic say something disparaging about you just to get eyeballs, or say you’re old news just because they want to look cool in front of their hipster friends.
So there is this desire for self-preservation – to not do anything that rocks the boat.
Yet most of the rewards go to the risk takers, and most of the people brave or stupid enough to take the plunge won’t get the results they desire the first time, the second time, or even the tenth.
You will not take risks if you are in the victim mentality. As a result, victim thinking gets you nowhere as a creative.
This may be obvious on the surface, but if it cuts your time dwelling in the victim space by even 10%, you’re life will be changed.
Maybe it’s time to get into a different universe.
