Every morning, at the local coffee shop, there’s a ‘happy lady’ (I don’t know her name). She is friendly, she smiles and laughs, she is, quite simply, a joy. Her presence does a more effective job of lifting my mood and helping me focus than the caffeine from the coffee I’m there to drink.
For any artist, the balance between socialising and isolation is always tricky. What helps to choose between socialising and isolation isn’t whether I’m alone or not alone, it’s about what changes in me when I’m with others, for good or bad.