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Dear artists, have you ever been told that you are too sensitive?  How about "Lighten up," "Don't take it too seriously," or "Oh, you're overreacting"?  When this happens in a daily conversation, how do you feel?  If you feel hurt, you're not alone.  I have been told all these on a number of occasions.  Even a seemingly innocent, lighthearted remark such as "Just kidding" is not really innocent because whoever said it knows that they said something not so kind, rude or hurtful to you.  That's why they have to say it to try to make you believe what they said was not mean.  There's also a society that regards a high sensitivity to be a negative trait so a person who receives these remarks automatically feels there is something wrong with them.  

Artists or creative people are very sensitive.  I think they have to be in order to perceive the world around them in their unique, compassionate way to internalize and then express their emotions in the work they do.  Being sensitive is a gift, in fact, that must be put to good use.  So a true artist never says anything insensitive to another artist because they understand that is a valued quality.  These remarks usually come from someone who lives in a culture where a sensitivity is associated with something negative.  So the next time someone throws this misnomer: "You're too sensitive" to you, say, "Yeah, and I'm glad I am."

"The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.  To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death.  Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him.  He must create, must pour out creation.  By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating." - Pearl S. Buck

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