Creative people often find their emotional lives connected a little too tightly to their work: happy when things go well, unhappy when the work gets hard or doesn’t get the reactions we hoped. But is art-making about happiness and have we created a desire for the process and the work itself that is a counterfeit for something better? You’re not alone if you experience emotional ups and downs with your work, it’s natural, but I think we can make those ups a little higher and the downs a little less shattering - and more predictable - by looking for something better than just happiness.