Writing has always been a way for me to process my thoughts, but it is also deeply tied to introspection, a skill I have relied on since I was young. Growing up, I often felt isolated. Whether because of AuDHD, trauma, or simply the circumstances of growing up, I spent a lot of time looking inward. Introspection became a survival tool, a way to understand myself when the outside world felt unpredictable or overwhelming.
Over time, that inward focus sparked a curiosity about the world around me. I wanted to understand why things are the way they are: why people act the way they do, why societies function (or do not), and how we arrived at this point as a planet. My curiosity was not only about understanding, but about imagining something better. A part of me even held onto the idea of “saving the world,” though I have grown to dislike the phrase (and concept). It is reductive and loaded, often echoing narratives like the ‘white savior’ trope. I am not interested in “saving/changing the world,” I am interested in a world which works together to save itself. Because real change is collective change. It takes a village.
That drive led me to explore social and environmental issues at a young age, and it continues to shape how I see the world today. It also, unintentionally, led me to anarchism (a world without rule, not a world without rules). It’s not the chaos people often associate with it, but the philosophy of mutual aid, self-determination, and reimagining systems that no longer serve us.
What I have come to realize is that my curiosity about the world is inseparable from my curiosity about myself. The more I try to understand how people think, how systems behave, and how history unfolds, the more clearly I see my own patterns, assumptions, and values. In the same way, introspection has never been purely inward-facing for me. Looking closely at my own reactions, fears, and motivations has sharpened how I observe the world, training me to notice nuance, context, and causality.
Those two forms of curiosity constantly shape each other. Trying to understand the world helps me recognize patterns in myself, while introspection improves how I observe and interpret what is happening around me. That back-and-forth shapes how I think, how I relate to others, and how I create. It is ongoing rather than linear, and much of my creative work comes from it. Writing is where that process becomes tangible: a place to work ideas through, trace connections, and see what holds when thought meets language.
In practice, that process began with writing, trying to capture thoughts, organize them, and make sense of them. Over time, it expanded into other forms of expression, like photography, film, and a mix of creative and technical mediums. Creativity became a way to take what I have learned, both inwardly and outwardly, and turn it into something tangible. Writing may be my first love, but it is only one part of how I try to understand the connections between who I am and the world around me.