when visibility goes viral

the ripple effect of letting our truths be seen (+ props to prince 💜)

art journal, march 2020

I often think of this quote by Winnicott: “Artists are people driven by the tension between the desire to communicate and the desire to hide.” Maybe it’s because I’m an artist or a HSP or an enneagram type 4 (or just another human being?), but I have a chronic case of not ever feeling fully seen — while simultaneously dodging the spotlight.

In childhood, even though I sooo wanted to make myself visible, I was socialized into self-consciousness. I began tucking away parts of myself that weren’t receiving positive and accepting feedback. It’s a common and smart survival strategy when we’re dependent kids with no agency.

In early adulthood, I tried to express myself as fully and honestly as was possible, but nothing quite scratched my inconsolable itch of not feeling seen/heard/met. At the time, I partially attributed this to my career as a psychotherapist. In our training, therapists learn how to hold a therapeutic container appropriately. This, of course, meant n…