Not With The Band: Artists And Insecurities

Am I good enough? Am I talented enough? Insecurities are part of most people’s state of mind, but it is especially the case for artists. Many great artists feel they lack talent, even professional artists doubt their abilities, included those who have reached the top.

 Probably everyone is insecure to some degree, but being an artist requires more personal and emotional investment, which makes artists literally face their own insecurities. Most of the time, artists even expose their own insecure side through their art, so they become themselves more vulnerable to it, and have to confront it all the time. All their anxieties and self-doubt are in front of their eyes or ears, all the time, on screen, on TV, on vinyl, on tape, on canvas. In short, artists are more aware of their insecure angle than the average person, and they have to deal with it.

 On an artistic point of view, it is a good thing as many very talented actors and musicians have said that their drive in life was precisely coming from these insecurities which were actually fueling their creativity. There is no doubt that insecurity has its real place within the creative process. But what does it do to the person?

 Surviving as an artist is much harder than surviving as a banker or a plumber. Making art is dangerous, it will reveal things buried deep inside, and will trigger self-doubt.

 Some artists manage to deal with their insecurities, they may hide behind them using cryptic tricks, but many others can’t do that, and what are they going to do in this case? They will cope by self-medicating with drugs and alcohol. The whole process of creativity makes them more predisposed to do so, I mean everybody knows that, the list of artists who have been addicted to alcohol or drugs is endless.

 Although it is a common idea to think that artists try drugs to enhance their creativity, I believe most of them don’t. Rather, they try a given substance to cure themselves from this crazy and cannibalistic process which is creativity.
 

 Unfortunately, this does not give much hope to artists, they are doomed from start because of their nature, and because of their role in society, the most exposed and vulnerable job in the world.