Is art your emotional crutch? As humans, we all have emotional crutches. Well at least, those of us who are either unaware of what an emotional crutch is, or those who take having emotional crutches as part of being human. Me however, I have been at war with myself for trying to eliminate emotional crutches since I learned about them. So, let’s explore in this article if art is an emotional crutch or not.
What is an emotional crutch?
Emotional crutches are the things we use to distract ourselves, sooth our stress or anxiety, or satisfy us in face of hardships or tricky life situations. But, not in a good way. To say it better, an emotional crutch is a coping mechanism that can cause us to ignore reality and prevent us from thinking logically. Crutches could be things, activities, people or relationships that people rely on too much to relief stress.
Think of alcohol, nicotine, tv, doomscrolling, gaming, junk food, shopping, or any innocent harmless hobby that could come to mind. These are things that people would use to relief stress or feel better emotionally. But all of these could actually make us feel miserable if done excessively.
