8 Feelings Every Artist Can Relate To

We all know what it feels like to die and resurrect multiple times.

The life cycle of an artist is brutal. From sheer defeat to overwhelming excitement back down to self-pity, it's a perpetual pattern of serious struggles, isn't it?

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1. That sudden arrival of a glorious idea.

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Often times as artists, we are the victims of the inconsistencies of our brain. A good idea can just drop in at an ungodly hour forcing us out of our hypnagogia (that's that awkward moment between being asleep and awake). I mean... it is quite beautiful how our ever-thirsty brains can just click into action randomly, but sweet lord must it always be in the middle of the night?!

2. That moment of focus and action.

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Oooooh, I live for this feeling. Everything somehow flows and comes together completely seamlessly. Every artist's fix is when they can release all that creativity that's been brewing in their brains in one swift and passionate wave of their artistic wand: a paintbrush, a keyboard, a pen, a studio, or anything else. It's just simply magical.

3. The giddy satisfaction of completing your project.

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The second best feeling is when you look at that finished product. This is the culmination of all those hours of craving inspiration, thinking, stressing, and working. You thought it wasn't possible, but you did it. Bask in your glory, you arteest, you.

4. The first thought of self-doubt.

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Cut to the first thought of "wait...is this good?" No one shits on their own parade better than artists. But alas we must accept that this is just another necessary part of the experience of being a creative person. I guess the silver lining here is that without this quality of constantly questioning our creations we wouldn't be motivated to do better. But honestly, in that moment, it's just your own brain crushing your hopes and dreams.

5. The intensely destructive phase of overthinking.

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So it begins. That inevitable hole of self-criticism we fall into that for some reason just keeps getting deeper as time goes on. "Is this really that good?" "I think I've done better before" "I could've thought more about it" "Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all" "No one's going to like this!" And on and on it goes. I suppose it might be us getting sick of something we've been working on for a while because we see so much of it. Perhaps we lose its value over time, or we simply just can't see the beauty of our own work and undermine our talents. One thing's for sure though, we don't have any trouble falling down the slippery slope of "this probably sucks."

6. The phase of comparisons.

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As a writer and dancer I often compare my work with that of other artists in the same field. It's just another self-destructive quality that artists possess... "wow, that article is so thorough" "look at the language, they're so clever" "what a novel topic, so creative!" It's as if we rediscover how ordinary we truly are. Remember that hole we talked about just now? Yeah it just turned into a freaking abyss.

7. The "screw it" moment.

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Pop that bottle of wine and just sit in your little puddle of self-pity. I mean, that's what I do when I have my existential crises. We reminisce on our life decisions, career choices, and think about that one teacher who always told us how shit we were and think "maybe she was right." This right here is our brief moment of giving up and it happens to the best of us.

8. The reawakening.

And sure enough, we come right back to where we started. But this time, maybe the idea hits us at a different hour in a different place (ideally not at 3am like the first time). We feel different, renewed, hopeful, and excited for another breakthrough. We are ready dive back in to this wild ride that is being an artist.

Through it all, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love being an artist.

We know what it's like to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. How special is it that we choose to live a life of such uncertainty, risk, and painful sensitivity to achieve the end goal of inspiring and connecting with someone... anyone. We are hard on ourselves because we want to be better, to do better, and to know better. I suppose we should all strive to go through as many life cycles of artistry as we can to allow ourselves to gain that wisdom and clarity for our personal growth and the growth of our art. Nothing worth having ever did come easy.