On October 13, 2002, I came across a write up in the New York Times of Frank X. Barron, known for his studies of highly creative people. When I have doubts about myself as an artist, I read it and it always makes me feel better, because– a) it makes me smile and– b) I feel like I’m not alone.

I’m passing it along to you:

Dr. Barron once described a highly creative person as “both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot saner than the average person”.

Dr. Barron found that highly creative people show high levels of ego-strength, a trait that allows them to channel their energy into creative work. They resist conformity and demonstrate a willingness to take risks.

And this is the part about highly creative people that I really like

Significant creative advances require a high tolerance for disorder and a preference for complexity, combined with the ability to extract order from chaos.

Dr. Barron’s own style reflected many of these characteristics. He worked in a way that might seem, if you hadn’t followed it for very long, to be casual and without any particular focus. But after a few years it became clear that there was an inner compass that guided him and continued to guide him for all of his life.