My father would rinse his brush in the turps and barely notice us. Expand your minds. This is creative. Face It, You're Maladjusted Unfortunately, society, almost by definition, expects its members to conform to its standards, and views such conformance as evidence of being psychologically well-adjusted. Nonconformists make their own paths.
Independent professionals make their own paths.
On the other hand, I do believe that career IPs are often subtly, psychologically different from the corporately employed masses. And that difference, if it doesn't imply more creativity, at least opens up more possibilities for it. Of course, different cultures have different standards of normality. Exactly a year ago I was in Tokyo, where I spent about a week researching the state of freelancing in Japan. I interviewed a few independent brave souls, but overall I discovered that there are relatively few freelancers there.