As people, we are so quick to describe ourselves in as few terms as possible. I'm a writer. I'm an avid reader. I'm an optimist. I'm an introvert. The list of things people will call themselves goes on and on.

I see this, particularly among more creative people. Writers. Poets. Painters. Photographers. Guitarists. Singers. Dancers. Bloggers. There's one thing that I don't often hear people refer to themselves as, though: artists.

If you go to college for any of these things as an undergrad, you're going for an arts degree. I'm an English major minoring in Creative Writing. Am I still getting a Bachelor of Arts degree despite the fact that I'm not drawing or painting?

So why are we so quick to diversify ourselves, alienating ourselves from people like us?

We're so desperate to stand out from the people around us, but all we really do is back ourselves into corners. Instead, we should be broadening our horizons and hoarding every label that seems even the slightest bit appealing to us.

One of my best friends is going to college for music because she wants to be a music therapist. She also loves to take pictures. Like, this is the girl who once ran down the stairs and out of the house to take pictures because I noticed the sun was setting and thought the pinks and reds in the sky were pretty. I even took a few photos too, like the one above.

But if you ask this friend what she is, she won't say artist. She won't say, photographer. She'll say she's a musician (or a music major) who likes to take pictures. She even has a pin on her backpack that says "I Take Pictures." Why not just say she's a musician and a photographer?

Because she isn't going to school for photography. Because she isn't out doing photo shoots. Her pictures are of what she pleases, and usually, they only ever see her walls or her Instagram. She isn't a professional, and she isn't working to become one.

This distinction between professional and amateur, for most people, is the line between "I take pictures" and "I'm a photographer." We put so much weight on that distinction, and it scares people away.

You don't see people trying new things because that would mean needing to excel in two fields. There's so much pressure to find the thing that you are, the -er, that we don't let ourselves attempt to expand our interests and find another thing to be. We shrug and say we dabble in photography or sometimes we try writing poems because it's easier than saying "I'm an amateur photographer."

It's all tactical movement, but life isn't a game of chess.

Artists, people, go out there and dabble. Find things that you love and embrace them as your own, taking on whatever label comes with them. Hoard all the labels that you can find, and never let anyone take what you love away from you.