Help with lack of drive for my life's career choice?, or, lets talk about passion.

[haljarrett]

just to clarify, I wasnt calling you a nebwie diamandis, had a quick look through your sketchbook and you have strong stuff in there

but that thread would be useful...

[diamandis]

No worries, I AM a noob, relative to most people here. I have very little formal training, and up until a few days ago, I was having a hard time getting started on fundamentals, but I think I have some momentum now. Thanks for the kind words, btw.

I feel weird bumping this thread, slowly veering it off course.

OP, come back.

... Maybe he's doing better, doesn't have time to fuss with this sad sack thread.

[haljarrett]

thats cool, I know how sometimes people can take what is written the wrong way lol, yeah, I think drd is probably back from his slump! (heres hoping)

on a serious note, lack of drive can be debilitating to an artist (or creative in general) maybe we should have a support group? I guess the cheer me up thread is the closest to it.

thinking about it, everyone must get burnt out from time to time.

[drd]

I do think that this side of the story of an artist's life doesn't get nearly enough attention. Maybe we would all feel better if we knew that we weren't alone.

I mean, we do know we're not alone. But we don't know it consciously during our days. Farting around on CA is great but sometimes it's harmful when all you see are the results and not the trials and tribulations that went into them. It makes you feel inadequate. It seems to prove to you that the goal you're striving towards is unattainable. They make it seem so easy, and it just isn't for me. Does this mean I'm not an artist? The work just pours out of them. I should be like that.

But no matter what we do, we never seem to get to that point.

I have a feeling that our particular way of living as artists requires a different way of looking at motivation, and passion, and related topics. We don't have 9-5 jobs (generally). Our job is the one that self-help books try to encourage cubicle-workers to do on the weekends until they can quit their shitty jobs and pursue their passion. Then they'll be happy.

But we're already doing that. And we're not always happy. So what gives? I don't think we give the topic enough attention.

Thanks again to all the replies so far. I'm still getting there. Been listening to some Alan Watts lectures. Really great stuff.

[Kashmir]

As you can work since the beginning with something you love, you don't know how is to live without that. Ever heard "You only give valour to something when you lose it." or "The neighbour's grass is always more green"?
I'm not saying that you should go work on a cubicle, and then go back to art to be happy, but to find THAT something that makes you happy. For some cubicle-works, it is an art job, because they have friends, a family, a dog, or something else, the only thing they don't have is art.
And you also are too worried about that, you already are a great artist, relax a bit, do other things that are not related to your job, because this is not the reason of your problem.

And good luck

[diamandis]

Apparently this isn't a new topic for CA. Look what I found, stickied to the top of this very forum (facepalm)
http://www.conceptart.org/showthread.php?t=138102

For some of the threads in there that seem to have been nuked (or the links aren't working, or whatever), just copy and paste the URL into the Wayback Machine, and you'll likely come across a cached version.

[haljarrett]

just a little update-read art and fear, damn worth a look. Pretty much covers all of the bases as far as worries are concerned, and accepting that there will be speedbumps along the way, I would recommend it to anyone wanting to become a professional in any creative field.