Writing creatively is something uniquely human. Other creatures make music, some even craft and make things that are decorative, but only people use language to express themselves in a way that goes beyond basic communication and labeling.
The human condition is essentially tragic. We are so highly evolved and intelligent that we get to witness our own decline, to be fully cognisant of our own frail, inevitable mortality. So we need to burn brightly, to express ourselves, to allow others to share our insights, our experiences, the intense joy of living and its bleak agonies. We can celebrate in language, both our unique individuality, the special perception of our experiences, and yet, at the same time, find a common base in our humanity. No-one has experience of what we have, yet everyone has.
And writing captures that conundrum perfectly. Creative writing explores what it means to be human, it entertains, it shows people worlds they will never inhabit, people they will never be or meet, and experiences they will never have. It creates beauty, exquisite emotion yet rawly exposes the bleak. It makes us laugh and weep. It gives the ultimate satisfaction of expressing exactly, whatever is needed.
Writing moves beyond us. We create it and set it free, to form relationships with others that move into unchartered, unimagined territory. It doesn’t belong to us, but it is part of us. It may be just a feeble flutter that quickly fades, or it may soar beyond the boundaries of a single lifetime. What are Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters and Anne Frank without their writing? A misspelt name from the plague years, headstones in a desolate churchyard of consumptives, an engraved name on a memorial. Their words make them so much more.
So make words your own to say what you want, in your voice, of your choosing. Experience the pleasure of their inter-relativity, the joy of creating something that touches a soul, is memorable and lives on, or just something that expresses for you, in this moment, what it means to be human in your world.