# Wellness and goodness doesn't preclude great art Jeff Tweedy believes it's a myth, "a fraud" that great artists have to be disturbed. Everyone suffers, and you don't have to seek it out. If it was only great suffering that made great art, there'd be a lot more of it.[^1] Arash Javanbakht, psychiatrist and author of *Afraid*, says, "I see their brilliant output as having happened in spite of—rather than because of—their mental anguish." Anxiety disorders don't necessarily aid creativity. Creativity flourishes when basic survival needs are met.[^2] The romantic mythos of the artist-addict perhaps came from Rufus Wilmot Griswold's exposé of Edgar Allen Poe's drunken dysfunction, which inadvertently birthed a legend. These days, substance abuse is a less common theme in fiction, but the addiction memoir, ending in recovery, is in vogue.[^3] Austin Kleon says, "Worry less about being a great artist. Worry more about being a good human being who makes art."[^5] Maya Angelou speaks about her two responsibilities, one being her responsibility to grow in her writing craft, "The other is to be as good a human being as I possibly can be so that once I have achieved control of the language, I don't force my weaknesses on a public who might then pick them up and abuse themselves."[^4] [^1]: [[How to Write One Song]] ch. 4 [^2]: [Anxiety can often be a drag on creativity, upending the trope of the tortured artist](https://theconversation.com/anxiety-can-often-be-a-drag-on-creativity-upending-the-trope-of-the-tortured-artist-211017) [^3]: [Where Have All the Artist-Addicts Gone? - The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/t-magazine/writers-alcohol-drugs-art.html?utm_source=pocket&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pockethits&cta=1&src=ph) [^4]: [Maya Angelou on Writing and Our Responsibility to Our Creative Gifts – The Marginalian](https://www.themarginalian.org/2023/01/07/maya-angelou-writing/) [^5]: [[Keep Going]] pg. 201