Positive Effects of Social Support

No artist is an island

I believe that no artist is an island, and speaking as an artist, I advise anyone not to lock themselves up in their room, basement, or studio and isolate themselves from people, especially the ones who support their works. Though we prefer the silence… the quietness of our immediate environment as we create our next masterpiece, it pays not to deprive ourselves of some human interactions. It matters not whether you paint for a living or for leisure, it is important to mingle with good people and even open up to them, especially when you struggle to create art. Deep inside, every artist is a social being. Underneath our introvert nature (well, for most artists), our subconscious …show more content…
Perhaps, in some ways, they could share with us the benefits they get from observing our works and above all, give feedback.

You need not look far for the people you would like to include into your support system: your family and friends, schoolmates, workmates, people you meet at church or group therapy, people you know at the local grocery store, fellow artists… anyone who knows you do art, acknowledges your creative potential, and above all, encourages what you do.

Your works of art have the power to inspire people and relieve their emotional stress and depression. Because you put a bit of yourself into what you create, although you may not intend to, people could “see” or “feel” you as they admire your works or performance or in the deeper sense, experience your creativity.

As you allow people to experience your creativity, you create for yourself a social support system which you need to keep building over …show more content…
The better way for us to beat anxiety and to de-stress is to develop a social support network.

You could start with people you already have in your life. To get the positive benefits of social support, spend your free time with the positive people in your life and limit contact with negative people.

Your extra time and energy are better spent with people who make you feel good about yourself and not with people who put you down.

• It helps decrease emotional distress and depression

Making art can be a long and lonely and misunderstood journey for artists who make living from art and spend most of their career dealing with rejection from family, friends, and even fellow artists.

While it is true that creative pursuits promote personal growth, a sense of achievement, and happiness, we tend to hold ourselves back from going after what we want when we hit a setback.

Part of the artist’s life is experiencing ups and downs. We want people who understand us… whom we can turn to for help… people who will listen to us and provide us honest yet encouraging feedback. This is why we need social support.

People observe our works of art to deal with their emotional issues. To deal with ours, we turn to people we