Amassment Message Board

Design, in general, has always a kind of outlet for me. A good amount of my family members are visually creative people, and we express ourselves that way through either a hobby or profession. I like to think that mking web sites has been really good for my mental health, haha!

That being said, I've always seen myself as a better designer than a writer. I come from a bilingual/bicultural family that emphasizes actions over words, so I sometimes I struggle to effectively communicate ideas and thoughts through writing due to my upbringing. However, I do think that writing content for shrines has helped improved my analytical skills. It's always been challenging, but a lot of fun for me at the same time.

Speaking of challenges, coding has definitely improved my mental endurance, and has probably helped my problem solving skills in more ways than I can count. I'm also not very good at it, but like writing, I really enjoy learning it!

It helped me get my current job. I had a writing brief for an interview, so I took an about page from a fanlisting (for a historical figure) as a starting point and then modified it to fit the brief. This job also requires a lot of writing and research, which are skills I've greatly improved thanks to shrining. And while I haven't had to do much coding or any design work as of yet, I know having both of those skills helped me get this job.

This will sound dramatic, but shrining has helped me emotionally. Like a lot. My depression gets me into funks where I lose interest in... well... basically everything. I also get down about not getting to write much anymore (I was a student journalist once upon a time).

Making shrines has given me something to focus on and have fun with. As a bonus, it also really helps me to write the essays/pages for the shrines. I feel like a writer again. :)

All these responses are so awesome! It must be true that practice makes perfect. ;) It's super nice to see and hear about how working a hobby like this can provide positive impact! ♥

@Patricia I don't think that sounds dramatic at all! In fact, I think it's wonderful. :)