A while ago I did a photoshoot where I got completely covered in brightly coloured paint. It was so much fun. I was scrolling through the photos from the shoot, and this one inspired me to write a post, and I think it sums up how I have been feeling lately.
I look at this photo and I see my face, showing some of the pain I have endured over the last decade. However, instead of the pain taking over the whole shot, it’s just a snippet. It covers a small area of my life, and the rest is surrounded by hope, by beautiful colour. I think this photo shows that even when you are suffering, you can still be surrounded by brightness.
You might think I’m talking a load of jibberish, but I guess what I am really trying to say, is that we need to notice how magical life can be.
We should revel in the good times, run over the rainbow without a care in the world, so that when the storm comes, we are that bit stronger.
There’s always the temptation to see things in black and white, to assume the worst, and to miss out all the positive things. That’s what it’s like when anxiety hits, even though you know the good things exist, your mind will only fixate on the bad.
When I get anxious, it kind of feels like a storm is passing over me and gradually drowning me. Except in this picture, it’s not the storm that’s drowning me, it’s the light, the potential for happiness.
I just need to let go of that last bit of pain to truly feel the warmth of the world. I still pass through time wrapped up in worrying thoughts, instead of looking at what’s around me.
We just need to notice things more. To stop, and take in the things that are right in front of us. Colours can really help to ground you sometimes.
You know when you walk past something and a splash of colour catches your eye, so you stop to admire it? For example, you might be out on a walk and notice a brightly coloured flower and take a picture of it because you feel it’s beauty is Instagram worthy. That’s what I mean.
I do look at this picture and feel a sharp sense of sadness, sadness over what I have put myself through over the years. If only I had seen the light sooner, and began to truly enjoy life sooner. Easier said than done eh?
We spend far too much time in the digital world that we are losing touch with reality. We can’t do much these days without wanting to switch into the online world. We don’t notice a lot of things that pass us by so we miss out on life’s most magical moments.
Just like this picture, when you look at something and really pay attention, you start to notice the little details more. Like how the splashes of colour look like a wave about to wash over my face, how the patches of different colours form a pattern, or the little specks of pink hidden on my nose. We really should pay more attention to the here and now. That’s what I’m going to use this picture to do.
Perhaps you have a picture that makes you feel a certain way, or see things differently. Sometimes capturing the pain in your face can help you to reflect as to what’s really going on. I want to say thank you to Sarah from Monochromia Photography for capturing this photo, and enabling me to have such an artistic shot to appreciate.
I have written this blog post on a bit of a whim, so sorry if it’s a tad difficult to piece together, or make much sense of. As a writer, I often get bombarded with ideas for posts and the urge to type my feelings into an article. Sometimes they make sense, and sometimes they don’t.
Most of the time these thoughts slip away into the depths of my mind, but sometimes, I just know I have to get things down on paper. So that’s what I have done here. I just felt inspired. Inspired by the myriad of colours and the urge to simply notice the bright side of life a little more.
Here’s one more picture from the shoot for good measure.
