Sunday, July 3

aside

Writers, good ones, ones that whisper things in the ears of our hearts and minds that wake us up for moments and hours and sometimes even days, tend to be somewhat to completely broken. Notice that? Functionally broken, perhaps, but broken nonetheless. They tend to see things that shouldn't be meant for human eyes, stuff between the lines, just outside the margins, behind the curtain. (Or, at the very least, they're sure that they do.) And the seeing breaks them in ways that never truly heal. They learn to walk and dialog and create and hope in spite of the perpetually open sores. At least for a while. Sometimes for long enough.

I've said before, but again: In psych 201 the prof mentioned studies that show that people prone to depression tend to see the world more realistically; they see no veils. Many people prone to depression seem to lack the ability to ignore what's right in front of their face in favor of the pretty lies that let us eat and drink and amass and horde ourselves into oblivion. 

There might be a correlation between those two paragraphs, but I'll leave that to you to decide.

And: At least I have that going for me. (Or, at the very least, I'm pretty sure that I do.)

#winkyfacesmirk

Comments (6)

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I think that's probably true of artists of all kinds. Still, I imagine blissful happiness must be nice.
mood
Absolutely. To be honest, it's probably true of most people: it's hard to get through life without being broken in some way. But it seems to be a traditional feature of creatives. And I think that blissful happiness might only be possible as moments, some longer, most shorter, depending on the person perhaps, and the definition.
Is it people prone to depression that see the world realistically, see it for black and white and some shades of grey, or is it the reality of the world, the shades of grey painted pretty to distract the reality, that inspires the depression.

I've always believed it was the breaks and bruises and scars that defined us. You're not supposed to show up at the end of life pretty and pristine.... you're supposed to slide in side-ways, battered and broken, with a big smile on your face, saying, "what a rush."
1 reply · active 717 weeks ago
In a word, yes. I think that the conclusion the shrinks came to was that people prone to depression tend to see things without varnish; all the shades and light and darkness, and the seeing contributes to their tendency towards depression. It's a viscous circle, dammit. :)

And yeah, I'm actually a big fan of scars too.
I read this post last week and have been wanting to comment for ages. I have thought a lot about 'broken people', though not necessarily in relation to writing. About how you can not forget what you have seen and how that changes your perspective on the world. How it makes it both intense, in both positive and negative ways. I'm not sure if we're talking about the same sort of broken but your post stuck with me. I have also found that there are a lot of people out there who have gone through the same process and that the breaking opens up a communication and understanding that is quite amazing. I have found it surprisingly hard to write about this, maybe because of the pain or struggle that it is linked to. I don't know. An important post I think. xx
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1 reply · active 716 weeks ago
I think it's very much the same thing and, as Mooderino mentioned, it applies to a lot of creative people. I think maybe there's a combination of things: the inability to close out the harsher side of life and live with illusions conjoined with a hesitance or reluctance to heal; a sort of emotional commitment to not abandon feelings of empathy. And yes, that experience, occurring once or again and again, has an impact. We are a sum of parts, like adding clay to a sculpture maybe, one that is never finished, and it's the parts we choose or allow ourselves to hold onto even when they hurt that can make such a huge difference in who we are and become.

Maybe... :) I may never have been thinking out loud as much as on this one.

I'm glad you came back, Melissa. I always love hearing what you have to say.

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