youlivewithapes

Allie, does being objectively awesome help alleviate your depression?

You're about to publish a highly anticipated book, you have a Wikipedia page about you / your blog that is viewed and edited by people other than yourself, and you painted a portrait of depression that has profoundly resonated with too many people to count. Do you think that having more tangible, external successes like these makes it easier to avoid being sad? Are those things any better at battling unhappiness than your friends just telling you you're a swell gal, or are all weapons equally futile against the sneaky self-hate spiral?

Also, I want to try to impress upon you how much I've been anticipating your book. I pre-ordered it TWO HOUSES ago. That's right, I have moved TWICE since preordering your book (and thankfully remembered to change my shipping address both times). I don't know how long a house is in minutes, but I have lived in three of them while looking forward to your book, and that's a lot of looking-forward-to.

Thanks, that's a great article! I'm a big Fry fan but had somehow not read that yet. I had never appreciated the depth of the famous "to be or not to be" line until I read it in the context that Fry sets up for us in that article.

And I hope (really really hope) that my question doesn't come across as "what right do YOU have to be unhappy?!" because that's not what I mean at all. As Fry says, no one can say you don't have the right to feel a certain way. Think of it more like, "I am often very very unhappy too, and my best plan for fixing that at the moment is to accomplish more in my life and build more things to be happy about. Has that helped you?"

Wow, that's a lot of minutes. I had some really good chocolate this afternoon and it only received, like, one looking-forward-to minute, and that was mostly because it was in the kitchen and I had to walk there to get it.

Thanks for your response - as with essentially everything else you've ever said, it really strikes a chord. "Emotional wasteland" is such a harsh phrase - think of yourself like Spock, only with the constant nagging thought that maybe you'd prefer to not be alive any more! Hooray!

It goes without saying, but I think you're incredible, and I hope that some day soon all your childhood toys regain their magic and wonder.

Trent, I think The Downward Spiral is a masterpiece. Few other works of art so effectively communicate the environment, the emotions, the descent into nihilism that Downward Spiral conveys. To me, it deserves a place among classics like Nausea and The Stranger. It seems like your life now is much less tumultuous than it was when you wrote Downward Spiral - you’re married with children, you’re involved in big business ventures, and you wore a suit and tie to accept your Oscar.

Does the creative process take more effort when it’s not motivated by personal anguish?

The first concert I ever attended was a Nine Inch Nails concert, and I loved it. The second concert I ever attended was a Lady Gaga concert, and I loved it.

As someone who critics would generally consider a “true” artist, what’s your perception of artists that don’t have this distinction? Is it two entirely different acts - one is entertainment, the other is art? Are you all artists, just describing different personal truths?