Ted Talk: Elizabeth Gilbert

In this Ted talk a woman named Elizabeth Gilbert talks about the creative minds in the twentyeth century along with their high death rates. She talks about how people throughout the creative field are found to be mentally unstable from their lifes work. She speaks about how if alot of creative artist havent died from their own hands, they died from the work that they do. An example that she brings up is by a writter by the name of Norman Mayler who says " Every last one of my books has killed me alittle more." Today when we here such statements by writters its what we expect. It has become very typical for a writter or another creative person to feel this way about their work. Elizabeth goes on to explain how creativity and suffering are some how linked.

Elizabeth speaks about her research on ancient rome and greece and their ideas about creativity. Elizabeth explains how in ancient rome they believed that creativity did'nt come from within but is givin to someone from powerful spirits. When the rennasance came around, people began to believe that chreativity came from within themselves and reflected who they were. Over time people began to call others "Genius's". Whether it be a musical genius or a artistic genius, the term was used for those who created magnificant pieces of work. To call someone a genius is to label an individual as something more than what they are or who they aim to be. Whenever a writter writes a novel or article their number one concern is if they would ever create a piece that would be just as good, or even better than the one before it. When someone is labeled as a genius, that pressure that may of not been there before now exist in the persons mind. Once that reputation is built, like a writter, the person now believes that they have to create something that was just as good or even better than the last.

Everyone has creativity within themselves and at the same time creative moments can be brought out of us at oppertune moments. In the end our creativity is a gift and should be treated as such. To be labeled as a genius is nothing more than an illusion that takes our nature gifts and turns them into a curse. We should feel special about the work that we put in for ourselves, whether the creativity is there or not doesnt matter. We get so worked up over other peoples opinions that we forget the value and importance that our work has on ourselves.