I Embrace the Scars
 
This piece didn’t start with peace.
It started with pain. With heaviness I couldn’t shake.
It came from a place I didn’t plan to visit, but needed to.
 
I created it with my hands, carving in the words I was carrying.
Alone. Broken. Lost.
I let them stay visible, etched deep into the surface, because they were real.
Because they were mine.
And when I crossed them out, I wasn’t erasing them.
I was saying: You no longer own me.
 
I Embrace the Scars is about the parts of us we’d rather hide,
but choose to honour instead.
It’s about making space for pain, not to glorify it,
but to recognise that it shaped us.
And it’s about what comes next,
the words that followed: strength, live, grow, be you.
 
As I sat with the canvas, I saw more than just myself.
I saw all of us,
those who’ve been bruised, but kept going.
Those who feel their scars beneath the surface
and still choose to show up anyway.
 
It reminded me that healing isn’t clean.
It’s messy.
It’s slow.
It’s brave.
And it’s not about forgetting.
It’s about facing everything that hurt you,
and deciding to carry it differently.
 
This painting gave me a truth I didn’t expect:
That I am no longer ashamed.
I am no longer hiding.
These scars are not a weakness.
They are my becoming.
 
And in every line, in every mark,
I see someone still here.
Still rising.
Still choosing to live.