How to help your creative friend
The Short List
If you are lucky, you know someone who is creative – not just every day creative, but creative to the point where, sometimes, you might question his or her sanity. When that questioning comes, you only have to do one thing – look at the past. While past success may not be an indicator of future success, chances are if your creative friend has successfully implemented some of the happiest times in your life, the next idea will be just as fabulous.
The problem with having a creative friend is that he or she may have some real life issues – emotional, monetary, or otherwise. Creative people tend to give more credence to what people say; worse, creative people already know that their ideas aren’t going to be accepted by the public at large. So while someone who is creative may seem to have a fantastically huge ego, because it takes courage to do things differently, in reality, your creative friend probably has more self-doubt than you may have ever imagined.
Creative people also tend to put their friends, family and creative work ahead of the other areas of life. Very few creative people actually care about the end result and how much money it will bring in. This doesn’t mean that your creative friend doesn’t understand economics, business or bills, it just means that he or she would rather do what makes him or her happy than find a way to pay the bills. Chances are that what makes your creative friend happy is spending time with you.
Because being creative is so difficult in a world that claims to value creativity, but does so only as long as it brings in the almighty dollar. Those who are creative often find themselves trying to refill their creative reservoir. This reservoir is the key to happiness for your friend, and one of the few things that can refill it is time spent with people who make him or her happy. There are times when your friend may not want to be bothered – most of the time this is during a creative output that cannot be interrupted without losing the tail of the dragon and releasing the idea into the ether. Most of the time, a coffee and a chat are all that your friend will need to go on creating.
There are many times when a creative person needed more, and society didn’t give it to them. Too many creative people have died through their own hands after rejection or following a self-destructive phase. Your friend needs to know that you care, that you value his or her work, and that you will be there to support his or her future endeavors. It isn’t always easy to be friends with a creative, but in the end, that person will make your life more fun than you could have imagined.
- Be there
- Support their work
- Click on their website
- Be honest
- Help when you can
- Go along with the idea
If you are lucky, you know someone who is creative – not just every day creative, but creative to the point where, sometimes, you might question his or her sanity. When that questioning comes, you only have to do one thing – look at the past. While past success may not be an indicator of future success, chances are if your creative friend has successfully implemented some of the happiest times in your life, the next idea will be just as fabulous.
The problem with having a creative friend is that he or she may have some real life issues – emotional, monetary, or otherwise. Creative people tend to give more credence to what people say; worse, creative people already know that their ideas aren’t going to be accepted by the public at large. So while someone who is creative may seem to have a fantastically huge ego, because it takes courage to do things differently, in reality, your creative friend probably has more self-doubt than you may have ever imagined.
Creative people also tend to put their friends, family and creative work ahead of the other areas of life. Very few creative people actually care about the end result and how much money it will bring in. This doesn’t mean that your creative friend doesn’t understand economics, business or bills, it just means that he or she would rather do what makes him or her happy than find a way to pay the bills. Chances are that what makes your creative friend happy is spending time with you.
Because being creative is so difficult in a world that claims to value creativity, but does so only as long as it brings in the almighty dollar. Those who are creative often find themselves trying to refill their creative reservoir. This reservoir is the key to happiness for your friend, and one of the few things that can refill it is time spent with people who make him or her happy. There are times when your friend may not want to be bothered – most of the time this is during a creative output that cannot be interrupted without losing the tail of the dragon and releasing the idea into the ether. Most of the time, a coffee and a chat are all that your friend will need to go on creating.
There are many times when a creative person needed more, and society didn’t give it to them. Too many creative people have died through their own hands after rejection or following a self-destructive phase. Your friend needs to know that you care, that you value his or her work, and that you will be there to support his or her future endeavors. It isn’t always easy to be friends with a creative, but in the end, that person will make your life more fun than you could have imagined.