Tag: creativity
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I Read 52 Books in One Year- Was it Worth It?
Trying a Different Approach to Learning After I finished my master’s degree, I felt more disenchanted than inspired. But why? I had the diploma, the debt, and the societal recognition. What was missing? That was in 2016, and since then education has experienced seismic shifts: rising costs, increased online learning, emerging AI technologies, and an… Read more
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Staying Quiet & Having Nothing to Say Are Two Different Things
Follow Your Voice I started 2025 very nervous to express myself. I believed I had nothing of value to say. So filling any sort of space with my thoughts felt daunting. But by the end of the year, I had written over 125,000 words across 150+ blog posts. It turns out I had a lot… Read more
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More Images to Help Regulate You
I’m learning to look for the beauty in the world- not only that, but intentionally cultivate and create it. There is so much to notice and make, once you get past all the noise. I want to lose myself, getting up close to pretty things; to examine them and question them; to philosophize with them… Read more
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Images to Help Regulate You
I used to think that being online was over-stimulating, but now I realize that not only can I find peace online, I can intentionally cultivate it. So instead of endlessly scrolling social media, I have been taking time to appreciate beauty- without metrics, comparison, or anxiety. Just pretty things to calm my mind and help… Read more
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I Had a Great Year, So Why Am I Sad?
When I look back on 2025, so many wonderful things happened. I met someone special, went on exciting adventures, began to express myself, and enjoyed other people expressing themselves too. I should feel great about it. But instead, I am trapped in a feeling of tension and misplacement- like I am not actually able to… Read more
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Book #51- Reflections on “Christmas Shopaholic”
Book #51 Christmas Shopaholic By Sophie Kinsella After I finished this book, I realized that it is part of a series. Damn. I feel like I missed an opportunity for some backstory and character development; but the book still worked well on its own. I have a lot of respect for Kinsella’s ability to do… Read more
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The Awkward Ethics of Creating Online
Am I a Contradiction? I was quite critical toward influencer culture in my latest post regarding the fictional novel People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd. The book follows an influencer mother who shapes her life, and the lives of those around her, for the sake of content. It is a timely and unsettling read. I discussed the… Read more
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The Role of Technology in Education
What is the Role of Technology in Education? In the future, will technology act as a supplement or a replacement to the way we teach? The needs of modern students are shifting and so are my views about what education should look like. Fiction, AI-driven apps, and my own experiences with formal schooling and self-directed… Read more
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How To Grow Your Original Voice in 5 Steps
The Evolution of My Writing & Creativity At the beginning of my Reading & Blogging Challenge, I lamented how clunky my thoughts and words were. They felt like hardened toothpaste struggling to leave the tube. Recently, I posted my 118th blog post of the year. This one was about the book Disentangling From Emotionally Immature People by Lindsay… Read more
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The Hardest Part of Any Goal? The Middle
Midway Discouragement in a 52-Book Reading Challenge This year, I am reading 52 books and documenting how my life improves because of it. I have read 30/52 books so far, which means I am about 60% through this challenge. While this Reading Challenge has been an incredible success, I’ve been slipping into moments of discouragement… Read more
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What I Gained When I Gave Up News, Social Media, and Sugar Before Bed
The Rules That Helped Me Heal After a painful trip to the emergency room for gastritis and reading Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey, I have been looking to reshape my life. I gave myself a few new rules, each designed to manage stress: The Impact of These Practical & Emotional Rules The worst part is these… Read more
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Failure Vs. Mistakes
Did You Make a Mistake or Fail? What if failure wasn’t a sign that you did the wrong thing? Maybe you were doing something incredibly right. Will Gompertz makes an important distinction in his book Think Like an Artist: the difference between failure and mistakes. He explains that a mistake happens when you are wrong. It… Read more
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Book #26- Reflections on “Think Like an Artist”
Book #26 Think Like an Artist By Will Gompertz Lack of Confidence in Creative People It is ironic that a lot of creative people suffer from a lack of confidence and imposter syndrome- since creative fields have some of the lowest standards of entry. You don’t need to pass a test to be a song… Read more
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Believing the Fantasy: Why Realism Still Matters in a CGI World
The Use of Practical & Digital Effects in Film The Lord of the Rings movies are some of the greatest movie masterpieces of all time. The movies were shot at the turn of the 21st century, and relied heavily on practical effects such as using location miniatures, meticulous attention to detail on costumes, body doubles, and forced… Read more
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The Difference Between Fiction and Non-Truth
Why Some Fiction Feels More “Real” Than Other Fiction I recently wrote a blog post discussing the difference between true and untrue fiction. By “true” I don’t mean factual, but rather having strong internal logic and authority such that we collectively believe in its intellectual merit. “Untrue” fiction, by contrast, includes works like fan fiction. These may have strong… Read more
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Front Seat vs. Back Seat Imagination
Books Expand Your Perspective I have just read the 24th book of my 52-Book Reading Challenge: Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor. It follows an unlikely protagonist: a disabled Nigerian immigrant who is the family oddball. I’ve already written a post about that book, but I wanted to talk a little bit more about the value books… Read more
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Book #24- Reflections on “Death of the Author”
Book #24 Death of the Author By Nnedi Okorafor This book was exactly what I was looking for. I have been musing a lot about storytelling and technology lately and this book combines the two. It has two storylines; that of a fictional author and the contents of the science fiction book she creates. It… Read more
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A New Appreciation For Language
Analytical Writing My degrees are in STEM so my language tends to be rather artificial and scientific. It is succinct; not flowery in any way. It is descriptive only when necessary, never just for the sake of it. It is calculated; a science, rather than an art. And in my personal life, my language (especially… Read more
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Learning to Accept Myself: A Journey From Self-Rejection to Self-Compassion
I Rejected Myself First I think the reason this blog is so healthy for me is that it is allowing me to catch up to my own thoughts. I often grumble internally about being unappreciated at work or in my relationships, but the first person to reject my value was me. I was constantly holding… Read more
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Excessive Test-Taking Creates Academic People Pleasers
How Schools Train, not Teach Students My theory is that the current method of test-taking and applying for universities trains students to be educational and workplace people pleasers. They try to do what the teacher, university, or their boss wants, in order to be “successful”. To be fair, from all my years of education I… Read more
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The Pressure on Modern Students
A High Achiever’s Burnout Story In my latest post, I discussed I Was Told It Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman and the limitations of the metrics used when measuring student potential and success. This for me is a very personal issue and is connected to something much larger: the pressure we put on modern… Read more
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Book #17- Reflections on “Steal Like An Artist”
Book #17 Steal Like An Artist By Austin Kleon This book has been on my TBR list for a long time. I can’t believe how long it has taken me to get around to reading it considering it’s actually pretty short. It has a lot of wisdom in it, though. I wanted to devote this… Read more
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Why Emotional Awareness Matters in Today’s World
Society Doesn’t Pause for Trauma We never seem to be given much time by society to process traumatic events. A person gets assaulted, well too bad because you’ve got a test to take on Monday morning. A parent dies, you get a few days off, then back to work. Brianna Wiest talks about this in… Read more
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How To Kill Someone Without Ever Killing Them
The Importance of Personal Narrative The English language needs to invent a new word for the act of killing someone without ever killing them. While I was reading the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman, there is a panel where his father admits to having thrown out Art’s late mother’s journals from the time she… Read more
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Human Artist vs. Machine Artist
How to Define “Art” in the 21st Century What defines art? How will we define it in this new phase of humanity? Is art created using artificial intelligence considered “art”? Can a photograph generated using AI be compared to a photograph taken by a human? What is the distinction? I am trying to sort out… Read more
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The Blessing and Curse of Influence
The Relationship Between Influence and Originality In his book Drawing For Illustration, author Martin Salisbury talks about the number of artistic influences that modern day illustrators have access to. They are exposed to so much creativity from around the world at the click of a button. This access to information is incredible. Before the internet,… Read more
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A New Way of Looking at the World
Viewing the World With Intention I read Drawing for Illustration by Martin Salisbury fully knowing that I will never become a professional illustrator. I just wanted to know more about it. I really enjoyed the way so many of the artists featured in the book talked about drawing. I could feel their love for their… Read more
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When Curiosity Chooses the Book: Reading Drawing For Illustration
Reading For Curiosity, Not Goals I really enjoyed taking the time to read Drawing For Illustration by Martin Salisbury. I would not say it is a form of artistry that I had previously put much thought into. This book gave me a new appreciation for it. I have started to notice all the illustrations around… Read more
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Book #12- Reflections on “Drawing For Illustration”
Book #12 Drawing For Illustration By Martin Salisbury I have been choosing a lot of art books for my 2025 Reading Challenge, which is to read 52 books in 2025. Although I do occasionally create art, it is more of a hobby. I think one of the reasons that I am hesitant to call myself… Read more
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Rediscovering My Voice: How Blogging Revived My Writing
Until I began this blog, I hadn’t realized the writing skills that I had let wane over the years. I don’t mean writing for the sake of a report for school or work, ie. writing that strips any personality out of my thoughts. That’s the sort of writing that includes a lot of “as per… Read more