Recently I discovered Milton Glaser's essay called "10 things I've learned". Two of his remarks I found particularly fitting to my personal experience:
I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. ...
That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle....
.. in all relationships people [can] be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences...
Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, ..... at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished.
