Riley Moore

Healing is an Art

Art is healing and healing is an art. Ten-year-old me loved art, but vowed to never get a tattoo. Tattoos were for “edgy people” who wanted to rebel against the rules. Rebellious being the very opposite of who I was. Yet, ten-year-old me had no clue about the journey that was ahead. She had her anxieties and disappointments and tears, of course. But she never had to really heal. Fast forward to 2018. Two years before the world got sick, I was becoming all-too familiar with westernized medicine. That year consisted of visiting puzzled doctors, taking a bunch of seemingly-pointless medical tests, and having a surgery. I was in pain and couldn’t eat and no one could tell me why. I rang in 2019 with my poor health following me into the new year. A lack of answers, and my sweet mother’s pleading, led me to the decision to move back home 7 months later. I needed to try and heal, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to combat the overwhelming thoughts of despair and the nagging feeling that this suffering would be my new normal. I had always been healthy. My greatest challenges had always been temporary. I didn’t know how to find peace or hope in this chaotic state that was my withering body and life.