On talent...

This is not a "poor me, please build up my confidence" cry for help. This is just my opinion about how I classify my writing.
I keep being called a talented writer. I get a little uncomfortable when I hear this, for two reasons. Firstly, because I find it really difficult to accept compliments, and secondly, because I don't believe I possess talent. I find the notion of talent to be slightly alien and I'm not sure why.
I like most of my writing. Like any other craft, or artform, I have good days and bad. Sometimes the words just flow through me and onto the page. Sometimes I am bugged for weeks by one word in a piece, and it takes patience to unravel the riddle of why the word doesn't fit.
I write from a place of integrity and courage, which is also how I approach my life in the broader sense. I also write as a form of therapy, which I have touched on previously. I do believe without my writing and my music I would die. These two worlds are where I find my inner peace, and am fully self expressed.
Perhaps this is why I'm uneasy about being classed as talented; because I am of the belief that everyone has the innate ability to express themselves, and that these authentic expressions (be they in the form of writing, music, art, gardening, car detailing, et cetera) are all inherently beautiful, none are superior to the others, and each expression has value simply because of its honesty, vulnerability, and humanness.
I am very fortunate to have found my form of self expression, and if others happen to enjoy reading/hearing it, then that is even better. The payoff for being courageous is the opportunity to be vulnerable, and in being vulnerable I am being my true self and able to receive joy. So for me, writing isn't about talent, it's about sharing and appreciating the beautiful mess of our shared existence.
I do, however, appreciate the compliment of being called talented, and the encouragement and support which accompanies it. It only serves to make me want to share more of myself. I guess I'm just bashful, and I want everybody to feel the way I feel when I write....elated, alive, exhilarated in the moment of being one hundred percent myself and not apologising for it.