The Sensitivity of Artists

My theory on why creative people are more sensitive to what people think of them, and the things they create, has always been that their works come from such a personal place that any criticism on those works becomes a scathing comment on the origin of those creations - namely, their hearts. While I still consider this a valid idea, a few days ago, I realized that it may run much deeper. This is one possible explanation.

Artists take much of their inspiration from the world around them. These include their own emotions, social surroundings, physical surroundings and social interactions. A greatly heightened level of awareness is required to take the mundane and make it into something inspirational. This inspiration, in turn, leads to great samples of human expression.

A side-effect of heightened awareness is that the source which drives self-awareness also feeds into an element of self-consciousness. An artist's soul needs to be laid bare so that she can draw from it. Once confronted, in perceived honesty, with all the beauty and ugliness of one's own soul, it is difficult to close it back up and pretend that what had been revealed had never been cut open and examined in the first place.

This leaves a layer of raw persona that the artist is fully aware of and cannot ignore when interacting with others. Even if those around her cannot see it, it is easy to map simple, innocuous statements to a negative aspect of self that only the hyper-self-aware individual knows of.

The result: an extra dose of sensitivity.