🧠 The Split Identity of Creativity
If you do this...don't despair, we all do. It's part of being your true creative self
“Part of me suspects I’m a loser, and the other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty.” — John Lennon
John Lennon inspired generations with his music.
Started revolutions from his bed.
Yet he confessed to his split creative identity.
He existed on a spectrum between feeling like a genius and feeling like a loser.
Multipotentialites have two creative identities.
We think our ideas are genius or trash.
Often, we believe our ideas are genius at first, only to talk ourselves out of them.
“I think I’m amazing. I also think I suck. Both are true depending on the day.” — Tyler, The Creator
You may think that there’s something wrong with you.
There’s not.
It’s the way your multi-dimensional thinking brain works.
We are all-or-nothing thinkers.
Today, I feel melancholic.
Yesterday, I felt creatively inspired.
Tomorrow will be different again. These are all movies projected from my mind.
Being a highly sensitive multipotentialite is lonely at times
because we rarely feel understood.
This is part of the creative experience.
It’s our creative loneliness.
This is not loneliness in the traditional sense.
It’s the absence of creative connection.
The quiet ache of having an inner world
That few people can see.
“I’m always at war with myself! The part that believes deeply in my work and the part that thinks it is all meaningless.” — Nick Cave
If Grammy and Emmy Awards winners have split creative identities,
We can give ourselves some grace, right?
TLDR?
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Our Split Creative Identities
Carl Jung said the ego splits into opposites when we don’t integrate the self.
For creatives, this becomes our internal extremes:
The artist and the critic.
The innovator and the imposter.
The true self vs the masked self.
“Every novel I write, I’m convinced it’s the one that proves I have no talent.” — Zadie Smith
Our Paradoxical Creative Personalities
These paradoxes explain why:
We fear being seen.
Yet fear NOT being seen.
Why we crave freedom
but need structure.
We yearn to stand out
yet want to fit in.
We crave novelty
but need routine.
We chase freedom
but burn out without direction.
We start with enthusiasm,
then think the work is trash.
“I feel like a complete fraud. Then I think I’m a fucking genius. It oscillates hourly.” — Phoebe Waller-Bridge
The key is to keep working.
It‘s just a temporary emotion that shall pass.
Lean into the melancholy;
It’s a rich source of our true creative selves.
Most people believe identity creates our behaviour.
We don’t have a single identity.
Our behaviour decides
which one of our creative identities we embrace.
The creative fraud? Or the creative genius?
The creative experience is confusing.
If you feel this,
then know you’re not alone.
By taking creative action,
you will return to your inspired creative genius identity.
Have a great day.
✅ If you’re spinning your wheels, get unstuck and get a clear path forward 👇
Thank you