Brilliant Short Talk On The Challenges of Being Creative | Elizabeth Gilbert | TED

In this fascinating short talk, Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and creative people — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk. The author of “Eat, Pray, Love”, Elizabeth Gilbert has thought long and hard about some large topics. Her next fascination: genius, and how we ruin it. Full bio and more links >>>

This week I’ve been pondering the pain of “coming down” after a great speaking event, which I’ve always attributed to the adrenaline comedown.  A doctor once told me that adrenaline was the most powerful drug in the world – stronger than heroin.  Especially hard when you come home to a quiet dark house, after being surrounded by bright lights and hundreds of people.  In the very final moments of this talk Elizabeth flags up why creators and performers of any kind might find it so hard to “come down” after experiencing the Creative Flow, and why so many of them use destructive crutches of different kinds to cope.

Thanks to Claire Westwood, from www.HappyNurses.co.uk another Creator / Star in Roger Hamilton’s Wealth Dynamics terms for flagging up this amazing video from the TED website.

Attending TED by the way is one of my “Top 100 Things To Do Before I Die”. See my other post on that topic for that list which I’m adding to all the time…