You're an artist. I'm an artist. We're all artists. Really, no joke.

If you're human and you do things, you're an artist. You may not think of what you do as art. Chances are you express yourself creatively a million different ways every day in the way you talk, joke, text, dress, walk and so on. Any medium of self-expression is an art form.

That being said, we need to embrace art more actively in our lives. There are tangible benefits to deliberately pursuing an outlet of self-expression that goes beyond just entertaining yourself or others, including alleviating anxiety and depression, increasing positive feelings, promoting social interaction and reinforcing neural pathways in your brain conducive to creative thinking in that can be used in other avenues of life. Essentially artistic expression for the sake of it (not to get something out of it), helps you become a more rounded and effective individual, aside from allowing you to simply enjoy life more and enjoy more life.

For those of you who need proof, have at it but really it just makes sense. This planet is beautiful. Why is it beautiful? Because we can perceive it to be beautiful. Well, why can we perceive such as a thing as beauty in the first place? It must be essential to the core of our being. There must be something more once the chore of survival is taken care of.

And honestly, art just gives you something to do that also makes you and those around feel good. Yeah, you can think of all the things you have to do, all the responsibilities you've identified with and all the bills you have to pay. But that's just the bare minimum of existing. Are you living or just surviving? If you really think about it, chances are you're here for a good 80 to 100 years. What is going to make all that time worth it? The good grades you got to get that good job to make enough money to have a nice stack of paid bills every week? Of course not. There's always the other side—the reason why you even bother with that BS in the first place, to be able to do what you want to do the way you want to do it. What's left after you do the minimum?

And don't think you have to have your stuff featured in some fancy exhibit or played at some huge festival or even practicing “traditional" art forms to begin with. If it brings joy to you, it is worth doing. Yes, I love producing music, putting artists together for a composition so they can also do what they love. But even the little things I do feel like have a creative outlet for me. Picking out my outfit in the morning. Writing in a journal and making sense of all the crap bouncing around in my head. Bartending events and carefully making each cocktail a neat little gift to whoever I'm serving to. Talking to people and painting a smile on their face. For you, it could be the way you decorate your room, the way you write, the meaning behind a tattoo, and so on.

Everyone has something they love to do for the sake of doing it. That is what art is. Whether it is painting a masterpiece or cracking a joke to make your loved ones laugh, art is about creation, about giving. The more we give, the better off we all are.

So never think about the pursuit of beauty as a waste of time or an "escape." It is the intensifier in life that makes it worth living.