November Thankstivity Challenge

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Nyiana-sama's avatar
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For LiliWrites's challenge. Reasons why I'm thankful on dA;

So, I've been around on dA for a long time, just about eight and a half years now, and I've been active on here for all of them. I've had my drama, the "BAWW, I'M LEAVING dA FOREVER!" moments, along with many other ups and downs. But no matter what negative things have happened to me here, the positives will outweigh them in every possible way. :) Now then, I shall list three reasons overall as to why I am thankful for deviantART.

The first reason may be the most obvious reason, but it's the people I get to meet here, and the friends that I have made. I have a weird issue where I can't grasp how big the city I live in is, the state, country, or world. Even though I live in a city of 50,000 people, I can't imagine more than 1,000 or so living in it at any given time. I guess that just means I have a small, closed off personal world. Anyway, I digress a bit. The reason why I'm thankful is because I'm able to meet people from all around the world, and I get to interact with them. Whether it's greeting new deviants, talking to them in the chats and forums, or discovering them through their art, I'm able to communicate with people across the world that I normally wouldn't be able to even know of if it wasn't for dA. I met some wonderful friends including AmiFire, Astralseed, VelCake, Topicality, phoenixleo, and many more friends thanks to dA.  And it's the people that I get to meet that make me thankful for the site.

The second reason I am thankful to deviantART is that I can help to make a difference. Whether it's a site wide project to help make a difference in a person's life that is less fortunate, or an individual person's cause to help out a friend in need, I know that I can help to make a difference. Either through helping to promote causes, donate to causes, or just being there for a person in need, being able to make a difference makes me feel good, because I know that I'm able to help out somehow.

The third reason why I am thankful to deviantART is because it's helped me become the person that I am today. Growing up, I had a lot of anger and self-esteem issues, I grew up as the youngest in the family, my brother and sister were four and seven years older than me, and they treated me as a burden a lot of the time because I was too young to play with them. And of course, being older siblings, I was constantly picked on, and it got to the point where I was too afraid to do anything but just sit there. If I just sat there, I couldn't be made fun of, but if I did anything, no matter what it was, I would be mocked. That feeling hasn't gone away, and because of it, I've become a very socially awkward penguin, and I just stay in one spot not doing much of anything. But being on dA, I've been able to express myself as who I really am, which is something I can't really do in real life, because I still get mocked quite badly. Since I was able to have this website as a way to express my frustration, anger, sadness, or any other emotion, positive or negative, I was able to help myself grow up. I've learned quite a few lessons throughout the eight and a half years that I've spent on dA, and one of them was being able to handle the world with a grain of salt. I've dealt with enough trolls, "newbs", art thieves, and all kinds of people on the site, that I know how to handle myself in the real world a bit better. My anger issues have resided, I'm content, and even though I'm still socially awkward and paranoid, I can now be like that with a smile, and not let any of what happens get under my skin. So yes, I am thankful to dA for being there when I was undergoing my teenage angst faze, and helping me to become a much more calm adult.

There are plenty of more reasons why I'm thankful for deviantart, but I decided to go with these three. :) For all of my American friends out there today, Happy Thanksgiving, and for everyone else in the world, I hope that you have an awesome day.
© 2012 - 2024 Nyiana-sama
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LiliWrites's avatar
I love that you've used a big negative on dA (trolls, art thieves, etc) as a stepping stone to better yourself. That, in my opinion, is the very definition of being an awesome deviant. :highfive: