Notes on How Much to Scare Yourself

You know that tingly feeling of anticipation upon stepping into a haunted house?  Having elected to freak yourself out can give such a delicious jolt.

That's the level of fear I think is useful to take into a project or for a new step in your career. 

Unfortunately, there's so much rhetoric out there that art is suffering and that if it doesn't cost of us something it's not worthy of audiences. Not to mention all the inspirational posters screaming "do things that scare you."

I think these sentiments can be confusing for artists. They lack nuance and can misdirect us.

Yes, we want to be HONEST in our work -- there's nothing more annoying than than an artist skirting around details, washing them over with vague phrases and keeping us at bay.  But that doesn't mean you have to be in pain in order for your work to be risky or valuable.

I think there are a couple appropriate types fear when approaching creative and professional work and they are:

1. HAUNTED HOUSE / ROLLER COASTER FEAR
   You're choosing to spook yourself. You'll get a thrill, be surprised and titillated, while knowing you are in fact safe. 

2. THE DIFFICULT CONVERSATION YOU'VE BEEN DREADING FEAR 
   You know you'll feel relieved when it's over, but you're nervous to speak your mind. An example of this from my own life was a performance art piece where I did about 25 cartwheels while naked. 

And, I think there are a couple dangerous levels of fear for artists:

1. FEAR THAT YOUR WORK (while honest) IS GOING TO HURT SOMEONE IN YOUR LIFE
   When I find myself in this scenario, I pause and contemplate my intentions for wanting sharing it with the world.  If those check out, I change more details to anonymise the situation more. If they don't check out, I think about how to work with the material in my life (having conversations with parties involved or talking about it in therapy). 

2. FEAR THAT YOU WILL RE-TRAUMATISE YOURSELF
   When artists in my courses are creating autobiographical material, I suggest being careful with events that happened within the last year (see blog on auto work). Because healing is a strange process, rather than impose a time limit, I now like the analogy that we want to share our SCARS rather than our wounds. 
   
   Scars can be admired, fingers can run over them without pain, they hold stories and learnings. Wounds, on the other hand, require acute attention and spur the viewer to take care of you.  IMHO, wounds are best shared with trusted friends, journals and therapists and given time to heal before being turned into art. 
    

What do you think?
Do you have zones that you are determined to avoid? Or "no go there" signs? 
Do you know that braving certain fears yields great results?
I'm curious about your take. 

I firmly believe you don't have to suffer to make good art, but you do have to dare yourself to do things that feel appropriately scary.

For me, the aim is to face fears in order to be liberated from them rather than re-enter a scary place and be re-traumatised or flattened by it. The compass to navigate all of this is our instinct.