Art saved my life

Have you ever felt not accepted or bullied? Perhaps in school, work, or even by someone that you love?

This is the story of how I overcame low self-esteem and rejection through the use of art. I grew up in Puerto Rico. I know that most people attend different schools in their lives. However, I was different, I only attended one school my entire life, from kindergarten to high school.

Initially, I loved school and my friends. I was a happy girl until I started wearing prescription glasses in second grade. Everything changed. I experienced rejection. Sadly, my eyesight was terrible, and I had to wear prescription glasses at all times, otherwise, I could fall on the floor while walking, get hurt and fail in school. Wearing an external object on your face, making it part of your body, and being rejected from a group in which you spend 7 hours a day, and 5 days a week can be extremely frustrating at that age. I never understood why bullying took place.

I assumed that children were superficial because they were taught to be that way at home. Unfortunately, their minds were limited by external appearances. It’s very funny, ironic, and sad how prescription glasses improve your eyesight, but they can show you the true colors of a superficial society. If you don't look the same as everybody else, “you are out of the game”.

In high school, I mainly hung out with valedictorians, most commonly known as the “group of nerds,” which added one more reason to being bullied. Imagine a teenager living under these circumstances. My days were grey, my nights even darker and my summertime a relief!

Because of all the bullying, I don’t remember exactly when my feelings started getting numb. As a consequence, I experienced depression. Nowadays, when I see my school pictures, I can tell how sad and miserable I was. Somedays all I wanted was to become invisible so that nobody could bother me. I truly wanted to graduate immediately from high school and disappear.

Now as an adult and remembering how much I suffered when I was bullied, I wish I had someone or a role model that would guide me, motivate and support me. Perhaps a counselor or a friend that could say to me things like: “I went through what you are going through, however, look at me now and see where I am today” or something along the lines of “Everything is going to be okay, this will pass and this horrible experience of being bullied doesn’t define you.” Probably having support would have helped me to manage being bullied much better. I never told my parents about what I was going through because for some reason I thought I just had to stay in one school my entire life, suck it up, be brave and fight with all the “monsters” that terrified me at that time. I didn’t want to cause any inconvenience to my parents, because they worked very hard to support me. I didn’t want to be one more problem for them.

On the other hand, I did have support from my loving parents because they introduced me to art. Fortunately, I was able to cope with negative feelings and emotions that came from bullying through the use of arts and crafts. I’m grateful for my parents' support, the use of arts and crafts, theater, and chorus. Otherwise, I don’t know where I would be right now. The use of art brought me back to life. Little by little I was able to reconstruct my heart, and empower myself to be the best version of who I really was.

As we all move forward in life, we get to understand that we can’t control what surrounds us, but we can control how we react to the events in our life. Sad experiences should stay in the past. If we carry negative things with us, we will not be able to live a joyful and peaceful life.

Thanks to coping strategies such as therapy, life coaching courses, and meditation, I have learned that each one of us is unique. I have learned to recognize that each one of us has multiple talents and that we can empower ourselves to a greater self. Art played an important role in my healing. Art should become a light in the dark for everybody. Art can be a voice for the voiceless, and for the ones that need someone to tell them that no matter how terrible an experience can be, it will pass. We have to trust in ourselves and have faith.

We can free our creativity and explore our inner child. Research suggests that the act of creating art has powerful healing properties. Pierre Lemarquis, neuroscientist, affirms that: “the art-activated areas of our brains that light up when both making or contemplating art, release hormones and neurotransmitters when stimulated, which are beneficial to our health and make us feel good.”

We need inspiration instead of suppression, empowerment for the goodness of our hearts, inclusion, understanding, compassion, and loving society. Art can be a coping skill to heal painful memories that live with us. Inside of ourselves, we have a powerful force that can transform our lives and the world in beautiful ways. With the use of art, we can let that force come out and be the change we want to see in the world.

Reference:

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/art-that-heals-science-1945970