You don't owe anyone an apology for the fact that you're a work in progress. The reality is, any change worth making in your life is going to involve stretches where you're working on it, but not quite there yet. No shame.
Just keep working on it, w/ realism & self compassion.
This Painting is a Mirror
Christi Belcourt ~ MΓ©tis
2012
Trauma recovery is not a goal that we succeed or fail at. It's an everyday commitment to being realistic & compassionate w/ our wounds & needs-- one we reaffirm every morning, because we deserve to have more influence over our lives than our abusers, bullies, or past.
Neglect is abuse.
Nine images in black on cream of a cartoonish girl in different poses
Little My, character in the Moomin books by Tove Jansson first appeared in 1950. She is small, determined, mischievous & fiercely independent, & based on the author herself in a kind of characteristic self-portrait #WomensArt
Self-compassion is a skill. It's a skill we should have been taught by being shown compassion growing up-- but if we were shown impatience or neglect growing up, we won't be instinctively great at that skill. It's okay. It's just something to work on, not something to write off.
It is looking good!
No one wakes up in the morning & "decides" they're going to use their self-talk to sh*t on themselves all day. That pattern is an artifact of verbal & emotional abuse that has quietly become our internal baseline, our mental "background music." Start to notice it.
All realistic trauma recovery is going to ask of us is we do our best w/ the energy, focus, & tools we have, today. That's it. You can't "fail" at it if you're doing your best today-- no matter what the voices of your bullies & abusers are saying in your head right now.
We don't "make peace" w/ our past in one dramatic moment or w/ one decision.
People telling us we "need" to "make peace" w/ our past have this fantasy it's that easy or straightforward-- but realistic recovery is an ongoing process of reconditioning & reprogramming ourselves.
The Courage to Bloom is an abstract meditation on vulnerability and strength. Set against a dark, atmospheric field, the lone flowering tree becomes a symbol of quiet defianceβproof that tenderness can survive even where warmth is scarce. The work invites the viewer to pause, breathe, and consider the beauty of persistence in isolation. A solitary tree rises from a quiet, slate-toned ground, its trunk slender yet unwavering. Around it, the world dissolves into a vast, textured darknessβsmoky greys and bruised blues layered like unspoken memories. From this restraint, the tree blooms in soft pink, fragile yet defiant. The blossoms are not loud; they are deliberate. Each petal feels earned. The composition leans into minimalism: emptiness as pressure, silence as weight. The contrast between the muted void and the tender color suggests resilienceβbeauty that does not arrive because conditions are kind, but because endurance demands expression. This piece speaks of standing alone, of choosing softness in a harsh expanse, of growth that feels almost rebellious. Art copyright Β©Yves Broeckx This is digitally created art concept and execution by Yves
I T H E C O U R A G E T O B L O O M I
A single bloom against the weight of silence.
Resilience doesnβt shout β it quietly insists.
β The Asylum Art β
Art and words by Yves
#AbstractArt #Minimalism #Resilience #blueskyart #abstract #art #bloom #tree #complexptsd #cptsd #silence
One of the most recovery supporting things you can do for yourself online is mute, unfollow, & block social media accounts that distract you from your recovery work-- that only piss you off, frustrate you, preoccupy you. Just do it. Life's too short & recovery is too important.
Creamy-white #roses for a greyish morning: Imogen, Pax, Gardenia, Desdemona.
Whatever the weather throws at us, hope itβs a good week for everyone, take care. π±
Ellen Neel (1916β1966), a KwakwakaΚΌwakw First Nations artist and woodcarver, who was the first woman known to have professionally carved totem poles #WomensArt
You are under no obligation to deepen a relationship you're not particularly into-- even if they are nice to you, & even if that's a huge contrast to what you grew up with.
You still get to have preferences & standards. You still get to want what you want-- to be picky.
Almost every day in trauma recovery is going to be a mixed bag. There'll be moments you feel a little better, & moments you feel like garbage. Our goal here isn't some fantasy of never feeling sh*tty. You just focus on feeling .01% clearer & safer today.
No pressure, no rush.
The goal of trauma recovery is not to make us "normal." "Normal" ceased being an option awhile ago-- but that's actually the good news. "Normal" won't give us the sense of safety & certainty our wounded heart needs.
Recovery is distinctly "abnormal"-- in the best way.
Perfection.
The Bridge - 1882
https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/11467
It can be super frustrating for survivors working our recovery to have to pause & think about our needs & tools so often. It's entirely legit to be just f*cking over all of this, & not want to think about it at all.
You're not alone, & those thoughts don't make you a "quitter."
linocut - dark trees in a quiet landscape, the branches forming a mosaic of falling snow, afternoon sun, and winter sky, the ground blanketed in soft white
Winter Garden
French artist
GΓ©raldine Theurot
Peat Diggers in the Dunes - 1883
https://botfrens.com/collections/46/contents/13096
There is a not-small subset of people out there who are just always going to blame victims. It feels "right" to them. They see no reason to not do it. We're not going to change those people.
What we CAN do is not take on their garbage worldview & turn it against ourselves.
Every "choice" we've ever made has actually been a ratio of choice & autopilot-- but we've been conned into assuming all our "choices" have been "free." To sustainably recover from CPTSD, we need to get real about how much our trauma conditioning has f*cked w/ our "decisions."
Winter turned up on the final day of 2025. Frozen sunrise on the River Brathay in the Lake District. Happy New Year!
I like the ICE will melt in hell sign. Accurate.
Hope it is successful.
#One rock
#BlueSkyArtShow #EastCoastKin #Seascape #photography #lumix #gx9
one white tail deer in a snowy backyard
#BlueSkyArtShow
#One
