When I first came across this video by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love at the TED conference a couple of months ago, I was mesmerized as I listened to her insights into creativity, how to deal with it, and how to put it all into perspective. It also struck a chord. Writers, artists, creative people of all kind, put far too much pressure on themselves to continually come up with something brilliant to prove their genius, and by doing do, often drive themselves if not crazy, then drunk or depressed or even suicidal.
The video is about 20 minutes, but it’s packed full of wisdom and humor as you watch her bounce on stage, dealing with the reality of coming to terms with her enormous success of Eat, Pray, Love. As she puts it, everyone thinks she’s now “doomed” because her best work is now behind her . . . . I sure hope not because I recently bought her follow up memoir, Committed, A Love Story, about how US Immigration kicked out Felipe, the Brazilian she fell in love with in Bali, and how they both wrestled with this decision to get married after they swore their eternal love for each other, yet also swore not to get married.
I like how she takes on these big elusive issues. I believe you’ll enjoy her take on creativity in the above video. I’m also reminded that, genius aside, you still have to show up every day to do your job, and yes it’ll still be a struggle, but you’re not alone, and if you’re lucky, you’ll have some mystical help along the way…
2 comments:
Great blog. I can't wait to pass along the joy.
Bonnie Jeane, thanks!
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