Make Art

“If your heart is broken, make art.” Shane Koyczan

For a long time, I didn’t know what to do with my pain. I had uncovered truths about my past that left me breathless, undone, flooded with grief. I said it again and again: my heart is broken.

When I came across Shane Koyczan’s words, they didn’t comfort me. They stung. I wasn’t creating anything. I wasn’t painting or writing or weaving beauty out of my sorrow. I was surviving. And I felt ashamed that survival didn’t look more inspired.

But something quieter was happening. Slowly, gently, I was tending to myself. I was learning how to soften instead of shut down. I was choosing rest, nourishment, breath.

One day, I looked in the mirror, and for the first time, I didn’t turn away. I saw someone who had suffered, but also someone who had stayed. Someone who had loved themselves through the wreckage.

And I understood. I am the art. My healing is the brushstroke. My self-compassion is the medium. My presence is the masterpiece.I don’t need to produce something outside myself to prove I’m worthy of beauty. I’m becoming the beauty. Every breath, every boundary, every quiet act of care is a stroke of light.

You don’t have to create art to be an artist. You are already becoming something sacred.