How Art Saved My Life

And my mom was pretty unhappy.

So my brother and I mostly fended for ourselves.

I tried to not need anything.
Because I didn't want to be a burden on my parents.

I learned to hold EVERYTHING in.
I learned how to grit my teeth and just get through anything that was happening (with a smile on my face too.)

Being an empath, I was always tuned in and getting information.
I'm naturally sensitive and emotional. And it felt like I didn't fit IN.

Through my art.

I'd always made art, as most kids do. I was drawn to it...but I didn't know WHY.

Now, after studying art therapy, I see that the art was holding me when no one else could.

~Art was the place I could go to for comfort
~To understand my experience
~To feel seen
~To release

I would have crashed into depression in my teenage years. I almost did anyway.

But art saved me.
~It gave me a voice in a family that didn't listen
~It gave me an identity: as the girl who was good at art.

It helped me tap into the DEEPER things in life. The soul. The Universe. The essence of things.

I've always been an "old soul," and art connected me to the wisdom of healers who came before me.

I know how to connect to soul wisdom through art.

To help people feel seen in the ways I was not.

To develop self trust because sometimes, we don't have anyone else.

I appreciate you witnessing my story.