How Being A Creator Has Been A Game Changer For Me!

As I’ve stated before, I was born to be a creator. Making art, writing, taking and editing photographs, cooking, baking, and cake decorating have always tickled my fancy, since I was young. There are all forms of creativity; I’m more passionate about visual, literary, and culinary arts than performing and musical arts. You can read my previous story I Was Born To Create to find out more information about my creative history and journey.

Although I have many creative hobbies, the main ones that I’ll be talking about in this listicle are: creative writing and visual arts. Those are the primary forms of art I practice.

As a creator, I’ve learned so much about myself, others, and the world around me. I don’t just create for the sake of personal satisfaction and leisure; I create to learn, flourish, heal, and inspire others. Being creative has a heap of healing benefits for yourself and society.

Let me tell you how being a creator has helped me as an individual, and hopefully you’ll be inspired to kickstart or continue your creative journey!

1. Being a creator has helped my mental health

I’ve always been the type of person who enjoys helping others. When I struggle with something, I always like to ensure that nobody else follows my footsteps. Whenever I see someone else struggling, I offer to assist them. I hate ignoring things, especially when I know something needs to be addressed.

I’ve had both positives and negatives my entire life. I’ve made peace with myself and others most days. Most days, I’ve also fought a war. As a result of the countless wars I’ve fought in my life, I’ve been in therapy since I was 12 years old. Years of therapy helped me develop insight and spread awareness about myself, my loved ones, autism, mental health, and various disabilities. Once I’ve developed enough insight to understand the complex world around me, I began to write multiple poems, diary entries, and Vocal stories to raise awareness and inspire other people.

When I open up about my personal struggles, it doesn’t just help me feel relieved, it also helps others feel like their not alone. Every time I write a story or poem about mental health, autism, or disability awareness, my hope is to inspire other creators with disabilities to follow their own footsteps, feel happier, and accept themselves for who they are. When I help others, I also help myself. This is because I share the life lessons I’ve learned over the years with other peoples, which helps me remember those life lessons for the long-term. Helping others is one of the best ways to help yourselves!

2. Being a creator has allowed me to build friendships with people around the world

As an innately gregarious individual, connecting with people has been one of my main sources of happiness. Connecting with people is vital for the mental health of others, as humans are naturally designed to interact with one another. Humans cannot survive without some type of social interaction.

I don’t just love connecting with people who live in the same neighbourhood, country, province or city as me. I don’t just like to meet people who go to the same school or workplace as me; I love meeting and networking with people everywhere I go whether it’s at a community centre, a shopping mall (kind of a weird place to network with others, but it’s common), a local park, or on a social media platform, even though it is risky at times. Meeting people in different settings allows me to build meaningful connections that will hopefully become a healthy friendship or professional relationship. When I meet people online, I get to interact with people not just in my home country, but also from around the world. I think it’s a neat thing to do, as long as I continue to be wary of fake people, bots, scammers, trolls, etc!

3. Being a creator has given me an opportunity to teach people what I have knowledge in

I’ve always dreamed of being a teacher, but decided not to pursue it, because I didn’t believe that spending many years in school was suitable for me. In lieu of going to university to become a teacher, I decided to study recreation and leisure services at an accredited college in Canada for a couple of years, and then pursue part-time work as a teacher’s aide at a synagogue and municipal recreation provider in the short-term. It was an appropriate decision for me, as I love teaching and helping without all the extra work and years of schooling.

In addition to teaching and helping, I’ve also always found creating content rewarding. When I was a student, I always looked forward to class presentations, in which I can speak about a certain topic in front of the class. I felt like a real teacher who was teaching her classmates new things. I was never shy to get up and speak in front of a large audience, including my class.

Being a creator gives me a rewarding and meaningful opportunity to present and share information with other people, just like when I was in school. Although I’m presenting and sharing fascinating information with other people, I’m doing it from afar. I think it’s even better when I’m doing it remotely, because I get to engage people from around the world, as opposed to in a specific room of a specific facility.

Thank you Vocal for giving me this chance to follow my passion for content creation and teaching!

4. Being a creator has allowed me to learn and communicate in a wide range of languages

As stated in other Vocal stories such as I'm An Autistic, Quirky and Wannabe Polyglot, studying and speaking foreign languages is one of my biggest passions. Since I was 12 years old, I’ve been studying, speaking, reading, and writing Russian. A year or two after seriously studying Russian, I began exploring other foreign languages like Hebrew, German, Tagalog, Hungarian, Spanish, etc. During my final year of junior high school, I became an enthusiastic French language learner. I studied so hard that I even received a French award during my middle school graduation, because I worked so passionately and diligently. Unfortunately, I lost all of my French language skills when I was in high school, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to study Russian and other languages I was interested in. I just had to squeeze in some time to study in my spare time.

When the pandemic hit, I knew I needed to figure out a way to practice languages, because I wasn’t able to visit any specific markets, restaurants, etc. In addition to texting, video calling, emailing, and taking notes, I chose to write poems and diary entries in Russian, German, Tatar, Tagalog, and Swedish. I believe that writing poems and diary entries in many languages is a creative way to speak in other languages, without having to leave your home. It’s also a fantastic way to practice languages, while connecting with people internationally.

In late 2023, I decided to start writing poems in Hebrew, so I can practice writing, reading, and communicating in Hebrew. I’m not fluent in Hebrew, so I’d like to achieve my goal of being fluent in Hebrew by late 2024 or early 2025. Besides encouraging myself to speak with native Hebrew speakers I know personally, I believe creative writing will help me achieve my goal.

You can find a few of my multilingual poems in the references section down below.

5. Being a creator has allowed me to connect with my heritage, and teach others about my heritage

For my entire life, I’ve always been fascinated by my heritage, even though I never liked the religious aspect of it. I’ve always loved the Hebrew language, the music, the cuisine, the holidays, etc. My father is a rabbi at an egalitarian synagogue in Toronto, so he’s been able to help me understand my culture over the years. My brother attended Jewish day school from preschool-high school, so he’s also developed enough knowledged to share some information with me. I’ve always celebrated the Jewish holidays, and attended events that’d take place at the synagogue. Celebrating the Jewish holidays and attending cultural events also helped me broaden my knowledge and connect with my roots.

When I was in high school, I took pride and joy in teaching my classmates, friends, and teachers about my culture. I went to high school in a predominantly African, Caribbean, Asian, and Hispanic neighbourhood in Toronto, so it was neat to teach others about my culture. I also got to learn about theirs which was just as purposeful and enriching. I was basically the only Jewish student in the entire school. There were only a couple of Jewish teachers. It felt strange at first, but it was interesting at the end. It was nice to be in a different environment, because that was how I became more tolerant and open-minded.

Vocal has been a safe space for me to educate readers about my culture. I’ve been able to write articles and poems in a way that’s engaging, bias-free, creative, and educational. My goal is to teach people about not just my cultural background, but to also discuss the my personal experiences without imposing my beliefs on anyone. That’s never been my intention. I don’t only share my information with peoples around the world; I also intend to help myself retain what I’ve learned and to preserve my cultural roots for the rest of my life. I’ve taken the time to learn about other peoples cultures, so why can’t I teach anyone about mine?!

Thank you for taking the time to read another one of my stories. If you enjoyed this story, please give it a ❤️, share it with others, comment, and please feel free to send me a tip/pledge to show your appreciation and support. To find and read more exciting content, please consider subscribing and visiting my public profile. Stay tuned for more poetry, recipes, stories, and much more!

Please feel free to keep in touch with me!

IG: @tdwrites24 (where you'll find all of my literary works) and @taliascreations331 (where you'll find all of my artwork, photography, digital art, and coding projects)

References