The purpose of misery

I hate being happy. I find it near enough impossible, to write anything particularly soulful or thought-provoking. I can sit in front of a computer screen for hours, and be left with nothing more than a half-hearted twitter post. Even picking up the guitar just leads to a few generic open chords and the odd murmur of vocals.

When you create something, you put a little bit of yourself into your art. Ourselves, or as many like to call, the ego, is created from a multitude of experiences throughout our life. Good or bad, it’s all there and sadness seems to bring out the best, most powerful and emotional pieces of work out there.

I mean, were would Hemingway or Bukowski be without their crippling alcohol problems or misanthropic tendencies? How about Ian Curtis or Kurt Cobain without debilitating depressive disorders? The sad thing is, many of the greats end up offing themselves, leaving nothing more than a legacy and eventually, a footnote in a tattered old history book.

Pain and misery brings out the most raw and real representation of the human experience. Something we can all relate to and emphasise with. After all, sadness, loneliness, anxiety and depression are some of the most powerful and overpowering feelings one can experience.

Everything we do is to avoid negative emotions. But the truth is, we need misery.

Sadness and despair gives contrast to the good things in life. If you were happy all of the time, then you would ultimately end up being unhappy. This is because humans always want more, it is in our nature. If everything was euphoric and amazing 24/7, then your original version of happiness would become less satisfying then your ever increasing standard of fulfilment. Your standards would rise. Misery makes us appreciate happiness for what it is, so we don’t become desensitised to good feelings.

The issue is, it feels like a lot of the time artists are stuck between the choice of happiness and doing what they love. Which is to create. It seems that misery always comes around eventually to pay you back for all that undeserved happiness you’ve been getting lately. Still though if you want creation gives you energy, it’s hard when you don’t have the powerful emotions of despair by your side to help you create. Then again, you enjoy being happy. What is there to do?

I still haven’t quite cracked this yet but lately if I’m too happy and content, I try to sprinkle a bit of misery onto my day, just to invoke them powerful emotions. It’s not too hard.

Make your self a really disgusting coffee in the morning. Don’t even think about putting sugar in that thing. Miss the bus to work and walk in the pouring rain instead. Get hit by a car on the way back from work… Okay, maybe not that far, but once you find that nice balance of happiness and misery you’ll have all the tools to finish that novel/screenplay/short-film you’ve been working on. How is that novel going anyway? Oh what’s that. You haven’t started it yet? Never mind.

–THE LONELY PROCRASTINATING WEST–