Happy New Year. The horses are coming. Horses dedicated to Lilli.
<3 Reflect upon 2025 <3
Tell me three things you learned last year, or whatever you want regarding 2025, or something like that.
anywho, thank you.
Who were you last autumn when that one song played ?
Did you try something new?
Which day would you choose to relive, or not..
During which season did you change the most?
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We are in the last few weeks of this lunar year before the snake fully sheds old skin and evolves into a charging fire horse (according to Chinese Zodiac/Astrology). This month’s gallery is dedicated to taking time to reflect upon these last twelve months, relieving yourselves of the armored scales with which we’ve managed to survive, thank yourself and the ones you love for making it through another one <3
I want to especially thank everyone who has submitted their art over the past year, for responding to my text blasts, for clicking my link. Making art and creating a space for others to share their own is something so special in my heart and wouldn’t exist without you all. Thank you for granting someone’s wish (mine).
Submissions:
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˙ ✩°˖🫐 ⋆｡˚꩜˚ ༘ 🦕𖦹⋆｡˚Deserve much more <3˙ ✩°˖🫐 ⋆｡˚꩜˚ ༘ 🦕𖦹⋆｡˚
With a recent breakup/heartbreak despite it being mutual, I have learned sooo much. First lesson, learning that I deserve much more and respect. Second lesson, be patient healing can’t be rushed.
Lastly, let go and on to bigger things.
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. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁. hollow bones . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁ ⟡ ݁ . ⊹ ₊ ݁.
I looked out the train window on that October afternoon, watching as the farmland and trees turned to cityscape. The kiss of autumn painted the earth in orange and yellow hues and I already felt a longing for my family and the nature I would be missing as I went from one place I call home to another. The seat next to me was empty, and this would normally be a luxury while traveling, but this time was different. I missed the person who filled that spot only a few days before, as I traveled out of the city.
Brett and I had boarded the train, I sat at the window and he, the aisle seat. it was our unofficial seating arrangement that seemed to fall in place every time we traveled together. After getting comfortable, a childlike excitement overtook Brett’s expression as he said, “I’ve been waiting for this moment all week, to sit next to you on this train as we head to West Virginia together”. He was so excited for the simple monotony of sitting together on a train for the next 4 hours, and hearing that felt deeper and more meaningful than saying ‘I love you’. I never knew what it felt like to truly be loved by a significant other, until Brett came into my life. In previous relationships, I was so used to love feeling conditional, manipulative, and even empty. Brett cracked the facade of what I thought romantic love was, and taught me what it is.
After 4 beautiful days with my friends and family in WV, it was time to leave and head back to the city. Brett stayed an extra day with his family, and I was alone on the train. I fumbled in my bag for my AirPods until my hands found the case. I popped the ear-pieces in and played “Hollow Bones” by Anna Graves. I leaned my head on the window and closed my eyes as the folksy strum of the guitar spread a warmth through my chest. “Oh, to let pain be light as a feather/Oh, to be free as a rolling stone/Oh, to be brave as in the cutthroat weather/Let the river unfold/Let it carry me home/With hollow bones…”
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★★★risks//rewards★★★
2025 was a year of big change for me.
2024 was comfortable, but depressing. 2025 made me uncomfortable, afraid, and more alive than ever. I took big risks. I traded stability for potential. I received growth. And now, in 2026, I am still receiving the fruits of my labor- more change ahead, more risk, more reward. For someone who put off taking risks for so long, I’m proud of myself, and I’m looking forward to my growth in 2026.
★★★
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the intensity of my inside thoughts don’t always reflect the intensity of my outside expressions and vice versa. does what i’m looking at reflect what i see? am i really seeing what i’m looking at? how do i come to terms with the fact that what I am looking at doesn’t always reflect what i see?
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▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။|||| | you can only leave with this. in this, you have everything. ▶︎ •၊၊||၊|။|||| |
2025 was transformative to me, certainly. it feels as though i finally met myself, exposed, as i emerged from a veneer of validation-seeking and rumination. complacency and bitterness, fear and isolation, pride’s well-meaning but ensnaring tendrils, i finally came to be aware of much of what envelops me, aware of where these forces end and my person begins. it was painful. it is painful. now, though, i am grateful.
here, i wade through uncertain waters. i plucked the north star out of the sky and now hold it in my hands. i continue on, ready to chart a course, or twenty. wading does seem to be the point, after all.
i’m (finally) finishing songs, but still hardly sharing them. here’s an unlisted youtube video of one i posted to get feedback from my friends. we are all friends here, right?
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✿ Sitting by the shower on the bathroom floor to feel the winter sun ✿
Currently Listening to: Healing Process by Whatever Dad