In the autumn of 2009, a week after an accident at the office, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (manic depressive disorder). In hindsight I realized that my creative superpowers were directly related to my ailing mental health. I had been living in this state for 37 years. Somehow I managed to make it this far without any diagnosis, medication, or therapy. So with those three key elements now in place, I’ll thrive and fly again.
After 13 years I feel healthy, invigorated, and ready to take the reigns of my career again except this time I am going all in on freelance. This way I can better manage my time and more importantly, my mental health. I’ve found that by working 3 months at a time and then taking a break for a month gives me a recharge that makes me stronger and a better human.
What’s it like being an artist with a mental illness? Do what I did when I was diagnosed years ago and search online for artists, musicians, moguls with mental illnesses. You’ll find out that it’s way more common that most people think. Ernest Hemingway, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Sinatra, Selena Gomez, David Harbour, Carrie Fisher, Buzz Aldrin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Francis Ford Coppola, Sinead O’Connor, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Mariah Carey, Richard Dreyfuss, Patty Duke, Ted Turner, Sting, Linda Hamilton, Jim Carrey, Halsey, Robin Williams, Theodore Roosevelt, Virginia Woolf, Tim Burton, Paul Dalio, Woody Allen as well as some of my dearest family and friends have all struggled with mental health.
Stigmas surrounding mental illness are finally fading due to folks speaking out, sharing their stories and struggles while proving they don’t have to watch their dreams vanish due to a diagnosis. Now that we know what we’re dealing with we can face our mental health head-on.
My psychiatrist and therapist both have the same last name. I’ll give you a hint: “Knock, knock, Neo.” I’ve also had a recurring dream since I was 4. I could float through the house while my family was asleep.
I follow patterns in shapes, numbers, and sounds. I pay close attention to my gut instincts while designing and act on hunches daily. Be wary of overdosing on analytics and focus groups. They can easily become creative kryptonite for super-folk like us.
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, they then seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”