Figuring Out My Creative Purpose
TBIN interview questions
When I read Nia Simone McLeod’s answers to Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)’s TBIN May Interview Questions, I was so happy to get to know Nia a little bit better. It’s such a cool and interactive idea that Lucy has created and crafted.
So here I am, attempting to answer the questions and feeling simultaneously amped up and overwhelmed with life.
Messy desk? (That’ll be an interview question below).YES. Messy house? YES. Do I like it? NO.
I find personality profiles like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) helpful in ascertaining my inherent quirks and traits as I navigate life, but then I don’t know how to “fix” what feels so out of my control. Some people like to live in chaos. I don’t. My brain shuts off when clutter piles up in my environment. Instead of addressing it head-on, I tune it out so that my brain doesn’t feel like it’s malfunctioning every waking second. The clutter piles up and my brain feels more and more frozen.
This is no way to live. In May, I’m trying to figure out how to navigate this part of my personality in a kind way that creates results my brain feels good around.
Yesterday, I went out dancing with my friends Robert and Evie. It felt so cathartic to release all that stuck energy from my body. But, you know what? I think that stuck energy has been funneling into my very being by living in it and avoiding it.
Evie texted me a personality quiz called the Gene Keys profile Saturday morning and it blew my mind. It’s based on your birthdate and I think it has a Human Design background. Bingz Huang, is this right? Bingz writes about Human Design on this platform with her extensive knowledge. It’s another way of assessing personality. Something about the Gene Keys way of explaining things resonates the most with me of all personality profiles I’ve explored. I’m looking forward to exploring my profile more.
When I read my profile, I felt like I’d found home. I’m writing my memoir and it’s very much about exactly this:
My Purpose — what deeply fulfils me — Gene Key 28
Your purpose is to be a living example of someone who lives with purpose! You are here to directly or indirectly empower the lives of others. You are a champion of the human need to embrace the dark side of nature — to throw ourselves into life and not to shy away out of fear. Because your purpose is in this Gift, you will doubtless be tested as to how deeply you are able to accept and embrace your own fears. All you have to do is feel them.
You are not here to conquer fear, but to accept it as a part of your life. In this regard, you will always be a person who can see where others are blocked by their fears, which makes you a very powerful person indeed. You are an example of how to suck the marrow out of every moment and laugh in the face of adversity.
This feels like the true alignment of myself if I got to be exactly me in a way that felt right. Only, that’s not how life tends to work. I wonder if some TBIN readers and writers would resonate with this test as well? So far, of the 3 people I know who have taken it, we felt varying emotions of it being right on. Evie cried. My heart swelled with this wonderful feeling of seeing the potential of my “right path”. Another friend said her results felt “uncanny”. If you try it out, please let me know whether or not it resonates with you.
Personal exploration, of myself and others, is what lights me up, and I’ll discuss that more in the answers below. Let’s get this party started! I’m looking forward to reading the answers you all come up with, too.
May Interview Questions
[1] What did you like to do most when you were 10? They say that this hobby is likely what brings you the most joy in life — is this something you still do?
I don’t remember! I think I was in 4th or 5th grade. I liked to read and write. I think I loved to listen to music and dance to my heart’s content, alone, at home in our living room or our backyard. I also dabbled a little bit in art though I didn’t feel particularly confident in my ability. I craved good friendships but was a bit of a ship lost at sea until I met girls I truly bonded with in middle school.
Today, the hobbies that bring me joy are the same. My life is writing. Reading helps me feel connected to the world at large. Connecting with friends helps me process my world and understand more about my life’s and my friends’ life purpose. Although I stopped listening to music and dancing like no one was watching for several years, I’m back at it. And, it feels absolutely amazing. I’ve learned how to form honest, deep friendships. I’m thankful for all my friends. There are so many phenomenal people in the world and I’m grateful I’ve met some of them.
[2] What genres do you write? Why do you choose to write with these types of structures? What’s attractive about them?
I wrote a satire article about how I write so much across genres that I might as well call my genre a “nichewich”. Fun fact: I submitted the word with definition to Urban Dictionary and now it’s official.
My most intuitive writing is a combination of my formal training — poetry — and prose, which combines to create lyrical essays. The memoir I’m working on is written in this style and I have several pieces on the platform with this flavor. I also write think pieces, humor, and fiction. I write about relationships, mental health, psychology, and numerous other topics.
I really like to think about things in a “big picture” way and connecting on an emotional and intellectual level with readers is my happiest place. The publication I run, Age of Empathy, has a huge emphasis on this reader-writer/writer-writer connection. Learning about individual journeys in relation to the world at large fascinates me.
[3] What’s your all-time favourite childhood TV show?
I watched a lot of TV as a kid. Alf, The Wonder Years, Blossom, Webster, Who’s The Boss, Bewitched, and more. I don’t remember a favorite but I do know what I was most attracted to in these shows — and it still makes for my favorite kind of entertainment — these shows are all character-driven, which leads back to my fascination with humans.
[4] Pick one sense and tell us about the most relaxing thing you do in relation to that sense.
I believe in reincarnation and I believe I was drawn back to earth for this round of life by the promise of touch, which I wasn’t experiencing in a different plane. I love gardening and find myself petting plants, rubbing leaves, and communing with them. In the garden, I get to engage all of my senses, and this helps me find meditative mindfulness that I rarely find so easily elsewhere.
I love the sensual touch of sexual connection. I love the sweet touch of petting our family dogs. I love the buttery softness of a cotton shirt. I love the feeling of sunshine warming my face on a cool day. I love a gentle breeze cooling my face. I love massage and I love hugs. I used to be so fortressed away that I would avoid hugging friends. I’m glad to say, over the past few years, I’ve learned to embrace hugging, and reclaim my natural love connecting with others through different levels of touch.
[5] Who is someone you want to connect more with this month? How might you go about doing this?
IRL friends. I’m fully vaccinated now and feel safe enough to socialize again. I consider myself an Ambivert, but didn’t realize how much I’ve been missing seeing people outside of my small circle. I plan to continue going dancing in May and to make the effort to reach out to friends and coordinate in-person visits.
This or that?
Bold your choice!
- olive oil or butter
- e-books or physical books
- libraries or bookstores
- noodles or rice
- messy desk or organized desk
Articles to share
Your top viewed article on Medium
A poem
A piece where you bare your heart
A piece that is longer than 3 mins (5 minutes)
An article from your favourite writer
Thank you Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) for coming up with these questions. Want to try them out for yourself? The template is here:
Aimée Gramblin examines a life lived with mental health disorders — anxiety, depression, and OCD. From an intense and tumultuous childhood to becoming a parent herself, Gramblin often turns to nature for wisdom in distilling, interpreting, and learning from her history so that she can grow forward on her path, with the hope of inspiring others to do the same. She is currently working on completing her first book — a memoir that documents her childhood, coming of age, and adulthood through a lens of experiences in nature.
