I have always wanted to be the kind of person who created something that people would admire and love and talk about. (I am quite partial to external validation, but that’s a topic for another post.) When I was in high school, I wrote a book for my Creative Writing class and that was something that I was quite proud of. Sure, it makes me cringe now and again, but I got to create something from my brain, typed up thousands of words, and published it. Pretty good for a teenager, right?

When I got into fandoms growing up and wrote stories that I wanted to read but also that other people wanted to read, that was also deeply satisfying. And when I got into mechanical keyboards and finally began to build my own from piles of electronic parts, it made me feel so accomplished.

I know a thing or two about creating, you could say.

So as I get through the first year of graduate school, I’m thinking about how valuable creation is now more important than ever. Creating and building on projects at my job that I’m proud of or an academic portfolio that shows a lot of the hard-earned skills I’ve learned; those things are important.

But when I talk about creation, I no longer just mean the physical and tangible. Nowadays, I’m specifically referring to creating spaces and relationships that can open and expand unto itself that ultimately benefits everyone.

What does that mean? It means creating safe and open spaces for everyone, where people can feel like themselves without judgment. It means reaching out to people and forging good networks – both personal and professional. It means connecting others together to these spaces and these relationships so they can contribute their own creations into it. It means fostering an environment that welcomes everyone at the table.

Creating these spaces and relationships don’t have to be a production. It can be a quick mention of accessibility that helps to steer the conversation about your design project with a more active approach. There’s no rule that there should be some kind of lengthy documentation that exists before these things are green-lit. It’s as simple as deliberately using inclusive language when giving a presentation. The more organic and simpler they are, the better, because you’re not overthinking it. You’re just present in that moment.

Creation puts the onus on you.

If the creating is coming from you, it means you’re responsible.

With great responsibility comes great power. Uncle Ben, don’t @ me. I know what I’m about.

The power for change.

And, when used for good, this power can be beneficial for others around you since no one lives in a vacuum, after all.

Now, I didn’t say it was easy. Don’t be fooled, ok? Creation is work. I didn’t write that book in one day. I didn’t build a keyboard in five minutes. I didn’t establish relationships in an hour and dusted my hands. Creation. is. work. A car going from 0 to 60 in 3.5 may be fast, but it also required decades of engineering, math, and elbow grease to make any and all of that happen.

Creation is work.

But the payoff is worth it, even if you don’t get to see it. But I hope you do.

It’s worth it because if you create the spaces and relationships that open and expand unto itself, then everyone benefits.

It’s worth it the way people that have come before us took the power in their own hands needed to make change and made change happen. It’s worth it for the hope, alone, that people will continue what you created.

But despite talks of legacy, the more immediate and pertinent part about that is the fact that you, yourself, don’t live in a vacuum and so the first point of impact from your own creation is you. Creating these spaces and relationships, if done well, genuinely, and organically (still probably gonna be hard and difficult!) takes its effect on you first. You are ground zero. So when you create, do so for the reasons that are true to you because whatever you plant in your garden is what will grow.

I wrote my book because I wanted to tell a story. I built my keyboard because I wanted to try something new. I built my relationships because I wanted to make sure those people were in my life for as long as possible. I started mentioning accessibility because I wanted to make things easier for everyone, including myself. I pay attention to people’s preferred pronouns because I wanted to make sure people felt comfortable in being called what they wanted to be called, including myself. So when I create, I keep myself in mind, too.

Nowadays, I have project ideas upon project ideas just percolating in my brain that I hopefully will get around to tackle — and finish! (this is also another post for another day). But when it comes to creations of spaces and relationships with those around me, creation is about building room at the table so others can join.