I got this question recently: “Do you create more when you’re happy or sad?”
I have a snippet of that answer in the video. I believe in answering anything negative in life with something that offers hope and encouragement. So when I create when I’m sad, I will work through those emotions using art as a way to express myself and understand the world. When I am happy, I will use the art as a way to help celebrate the joyful feelings I have.
In either case, the art is a reflection of hope. I feel that it is important to be real and not fake. It is important to talk through emotions and acknowledge them, because when you don’t do that, you stuff it. And guess what? Those emotions never go away. They sit and stew and become something even more negative. Only through honestly working through them can you move past the pain in a healthy way.
This is why relationships fail when the other person refuses to acknowledge your pain. When it’s all about them, their life, and every reaction they have to you has to do with them and not you, it shows you that they don’t care about you. It shows you that they aren’t in the relationship to be close to you, they are in it for something THEY get out of it.
This is also why art without hope can be a very lonely place. Our conversations about pain need to include the reality of what it means to be worth through struggle. We need to offer the message that there IS light in this world and good DOES triumph over evil.
