Danielle Kadom

When I was younger, my Grandma lived with us in our house. To attempt to reduce the entirety of her personality into only a few words would be doing her injustice; she is easily the most creative and unique individual I have ever and will ever meet. We spent a lot of time together, and she told us many stories, but above all, she taught me her ways of thinking. Whenever I told her that I was bored and had nothing to do, she would encourage me to pick up a pencil and start drawing. No matter how good or bad the drawing was, she instilled the importance of separating your self criticism from your freedom to create.

Fast forward several years, I dedicated the majority of my time in middle and high school to academics. Like many others, I felt consumed by the blackhole of studying for every test and quiz that crossed my way; however, suddenly everything I thought was important vanished within the blink of an eye. As the world was forced to stay locked within their own walls during the pandemic, it created a space for me to stop searching outwards, and start to reconnect inwards. My former passion for creation, art, and sticking to the things that comforted my mind began to rush back to me. The fond childhood feelings of drawing with my grandma in our childhood home came back. My dad has always said to me that entering adulthood is just rediscovering yourself as the person you always were even as a child. Through these few idle months, I had the opportunity to further explore the creative and artistic person I always was as opposed to altering anything.