Why Isn’t Expressing Yourself “Niche” Enough?

Somewhere along the way, creativity got put on a productivity leash.

It has to be marketable. Follow an aesthetic. 
It has to fit neatly into a box someone else understands.

If you can’t explain it in a sentence or monetize it by Tuesday, people start tilting their heads like you’ve missed the point.

But here’s the thing.
Expressing yourself is the point.

Yet, somehow, that still isn’t considered niche enough.

Creativity Doesn’t Owe Anyone a Category

We love niches. Humans adore tidy labels. They make things easier to sell, easier to explain, easier to scroll past.

Crochet but make it fashion.
Art but make it therapeutic.
Crafting but make it hustle.

Expression that exists just to exist makes people uncomfortable. There’s no outcome. No guarantee.

You’re just… making something. For yourself. On purpose.

I always say, they try to put us in a box, but we make four more while inside.

Because that’s what expression does. It refuses containment. It multiplies. The moment someone tries to define it, it expands into something new.

When you create from the way you perceive the world, you don’t lose your audience. You find it. The people who resonate with your work aren’t looking for a trend. They’re looking for themselves reflected back.

Authenticity is the filter. Not the risk.

Expressing Yourself Is The Art Therapy We All Need

Art therapy isn’t always a clinical room with prompts and processing. Sometimes it’s repetitive motion that quiets your brain. It’s choosing colors that match how you feel - it’s working through frustration stitch by stitch instead of bottling it up.

You don’t need to name or fix the feeling.
You just need somewhere safe to put it.

That act alone is therapeutic.

It doesn’t need to fit a niche to be valid. Creating honestly, from your own nervous system, perspective, and lived experience, is a category most people never allow themselves to enter. Not because it lacks value, but because it requires courage.

The Problem With Needing It to “Make Sense”

For neurodivergent brains especially, expression doesn’t always arrive neatly packaged. It’s nonlinear and often wordless.

My autistic daughter didn’t express herself to me through words at first. We spoke through art and objects. A wind-up toy meant “I want to go.” She’d wind it and let the dinosaur crawl across the floor until the spring inside was fully unwound. That was communication. That was expression. That was enough.

Trying to force creative expression into a box strips away the very thing that makes it helpful. When you demand clarity, outcome, or explanation, you turn relief into performance.

Suddenly you’re not regulating anymore.
You’re proving.
You’re justifying.
You’re apologizing for taking up space.

That’s not therapy. That’s pressure in disguise.

Not everything needs a reason that makes sense to other people.

Expressing yourself doesn’t need a theme, a market, or an explanation.

It just needs to be honest.

And in a world obsessed with productivity and polish, choosing honest expression is more than enough. It’s necessary.