But through that small opening, for the first time, light came in.

There was something inside me that I had silenced for years.
Maybe a wound, or perhaps a knot buried so deep it could never be spoken of or unraveled.
I had always known it was there—but I chose to look away.
I covered it.
Quieted it.
Buried it.

But one day, I realized I could no longer carry its weight.
So I pulled the cover back.
Maybe I only managed to open a tiny slit—
but through that small opening, for the first time, light came in.
Air touched the wound.
And in that moment, I understood the healing power of release over repression.

This painting speaks of that exact moment.
The moment I recognized the wound within me,
chose not to run from it but to face it,
and allowed it space to breathe—to begin healing.

The small circles scattered around the canvas—
they may represent the everyday fractures,
the minor traumas we brush aside.
But the dark mass at the center…
that was the deep, silent part I had carried for so long—
and had finally chosen to set free.

This isn’t an end.
This is the very first step toward healing.