What do John Lennon, John Denver, Meryl Streep, Robin Williams, Will Smith and Mike Meyers have in common? Other than being brilliant performers, they all share (or shared) a sense of insecurity. A feeling of low self-esteem and inadequacy fuels their creative genius and we are awestruck at what they achieve. Being insecure and unsure of one’s self has led to many incredible discoveries, art creations, inventions, movies, music, theatre productions and medical cures. The magnitude of creativity seems to emerge from people who tend to be self-conscious, have doubts about their abilities and are somewhat depressed feeling that they do not measure up to the expectations others or they place on themselves. This is not to say that secure people are not creative, but according to research investigations, it has been discovered that insecure people are more creative than secure people. There are three reasons why insecure people tend to be more creative: there is a special brain function that stimulates people’s thoughts and actions, people with insecurities try to rise above them with outstanding performance; and, the moment of acceptance is a “golden moment.”
Research Findings
Brain scientists have discovered there are neurons in the brain that gets fired up more so in people with insecurities. According to Dr. Candace Pert, a neuroscientist, there are peptides which are the biochemical basis for emotion in the body, and when a person feels insecure, there are a certain amount of emotions that trigger the peptides. The peptides are amino acid chains that carry with them proteins, which is a basis for all life. The feelings and emotions associated with insecurities trigger these peptides that trigger biochemical responses in the brain, causing the firing of neurons to become stimulated, therefore opening the right and left brain function to operate for the person to be creative. This is the scientific explanation for why insecure people are more creative. Now for the social factor.
Social Factors
Insecure people tend to act differently and overt by being bad winners and bad losers, talking about other people in negative ways and even “publicly denigrate those they were once close to – according to Miss Mae. In addition, insecure people refuse to see the positive and instead are pessimistic; they see the glass as being half-empty. So, in essence when insecure people see themselves in the mirror, they do not like what they see. So, to counteract these negative feelings, they get creative. Performers come up with the most outrageous, outstanding and memorable performances, scientists burn the midnight oil and leave no stone unturned to make the discovery or prove a hypothesis, and inventors never stop their pursuit. The creative geniuses work to produce incredible products, performances and cures to achieve awards and accolades, which for secure people would be satisfying, but oddly enough, not so for insecure folks. However, there is a positive side to the negative tendencies.
Great Feats of Accomplishments
Insecure people accomplish ingenious and brilliant, not to mention incredible feats. They have the brain stimulus to fire the neurons to make things that other people would not have even conceived and get the “golden moment” of applause, accolades and acknowledgement they deserve. An example of this is Czeslaw Milosz, a Nobel Prize laureate poet and writer who confessed “From early on writing for me has been a way to overcome my real or imagined worthlessness.”
There are many positive outcomes from cases where people may feel insecure and unsure of themselves and their abilities. A brain stimulus helps get the “creative juices flowing” and the rest as they say “is history. Many great and wonderful discoveries and performances are attributed to brilliance and genius from the minds of people who are insecure. For the achievements and incredible advancements made from creative persons, it would not be a bad thing for all of us to “boost our creativity.”
Featured photo credit: Ollyy via shutterstock.com
