Eric Rothman

The secret to being an artist and creator , which is, I think, to not give a fuck about what anyone thinks about you, or your work, but with integrity to your personal greatness. To create without inhibition, from a state of pure un-self-consciousness, without (dare I say) ego — which is the golden place where magical things happen. The place of... See more

When you’re an artist, all the material is in the dance of life, in taking the time to go camping with your friend or watch tons of movies. It’s in getting back to your play self and being excited to pick up a crayon. Where did you get this idea that you should be constantly producing? Are you alive? Are you getting out of bed? Well, good. You did... See more

There’s also a great anecdote from Nobel-winning physicist Richard Feynman, where he talks about how physics used to delight him when he used to play with it, but then it started to disgust him when he got burdened by this idea that he was obligated to advance the future of science. That he was supposed to be doing “important” work.

It’s quite... See more

Freedom comes from acceptance of all parts of the journey — like paddling a canoe across the ocean — to be able to do so calmly, gracefully, rather than constantly trying to find land, some imagined sanctuary of security, validation, or permission. No one and nothing can give that to you, so the best thing to do is to simply surrender. Let go. Know... See more

“Well, I’m gonna get a lot of hell for saying this. I just want to put it out there. I know, I am. This is going to be a something that I might regret saying, but...I think one of the best things to cure self-doubt is just to go to really bad stuff. I’m talking about plays you hear about that are terrible–go to them. There’s shows on television... See more

Preparing to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Scheduling time to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Making a to-do list for the thing isn't doing the thing.

Telling people you're going to do the thing isn't doing the thing.

Messaging friends who may or may not be doing the thing isn't doing

the thing.

Writing a banger tweet about how you're going to... See more

Then I had another thought: Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing - it didn't have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics, but whether it was interesting and amusing for me to play with. When I

... See more

I'm diagnosed schizophrenic, and the main barrier to re-entering the world after my first psychotic break was that I could no longer relate to the person I once was. My memories felt like memories of another person outside of myself, I didn't believe it was me. It was very traumatizing and I withdrew from everyone I knew and became catatonic for... See more