Dog Walk Philosophy: What Is A Happy Creative?
I walk my dog every morning. Most mornings we walk pretty much the same route. So I decided to give myself a challenge. Find something unique along the path I tread daily and take a photo. Somedays there will be something genuinely new. Others I will have to find a way to shoot the mundane with a new perspective.
This week I had individual therapy, couple’s therapy, and I got a recommendation to speak to a therapist about possibly having ADHD.
It’s a beautiful thing.
For years I thought that being creative required poor mental health. I embraced my depression because I produced good work. But, I’m learning how that is a false equivalency. If I’m talented, it’s not because I’m in pain. It’s because I have a bit of natural talent that a massive amount of repetition has nurtured. I wrote my first short story when I was twelve. Over the course of thirty-plus years of writing poetry, essays, articles, and scripts.
The only correlation between my depression and my work is that I was often depressed while I worked. There is no secret sauce lying in poor mental health.
So, how can you create and be happy? The same way you created during your depression. Daily.
