Stained-glass Windows

“Brokenness is an avenue to let in the light.”

There are things retail therapy cannot fix, certainly not this pandemic nor your growing inner issues. You are a person who used to be excited about life, but then the pandemic happened. So I would like to talk about brokenness, loss of passion, and discouragement because you have been trying to comfort yourself for a little too long. With that, I would like to share three things to remind yourself each day—well, aside from reminding yourself to stop adding things to your e-carts. 

We are not beyond repair. Brokenness is what we all have in common—imprinted in our being. Two years into a pandemic has left us with almost unbearable brokenness. Life will never be the same without the people we lost, the time that had passed, and the opportunities we missed. It feels as if there is no longer a redemption story to all of these because we are too broken to have one. But Kintsugi—the Japanese art of putting things back together with gold—helped me realize that nothing is actually beyond repair. Kintsugi came from an idea that brokenness only enhances and strengthens the object with more refined things like gold. Brokenness is an avenue to let in the light. One day we will look at our broken pieces and see how far we have gone—from barely keeping it all together to a beautiful work of art. 

We must learn to mature like a child who is unafraid to create. It is quite ironic how these times mature us by making us child-like. When we feel like we are terrified of making mistakes, we must remember to make art. It will make us reckless and lose ourselves, but in the same breath, find what we are all looking for: freedom. Depriving one’s self to create is one of the worst ways to kill one’s passion. It is why our generation feels as if everyone works like machines—so many things to accomplish yet so little passion in doing so. We need to forgive ourselves for things we did not become. We learn this from Levon Jihanian—the current art director of the Cartoon Network. He said that:

“The reason I got to where I am today is that I failed at being an editorial illustrator, then I failed at being a gallery artist, then I failed at being a cartoonist, and then I failed at being an MtG card illustrator.” 

His success came from his courage of not giving up despite his failures. However, especially these times, we are so caught up in the things we want to be and so hard on ourselves that we miss the point of why we even started in the first place. We, as we fail, put endings on things that are only beginning. It intervenes in our growth. We must remind ourselves that it is okay to be the person we are today. Why do we even practice self-sabotage more than self-care? Who told us other people’s definition of success is more important than our wellbeing? 

We are beautiful stained-glass windows that shine when there is light from within. Never stop embracing brokenness and the need to heal. Never stop acknowledging your need to create. And always, always forgive yourself. The person you are today is doing a good job. 

LAYOUT BY: Sigrid Deryll Q. Dy