Day 3: Circles, Lines, and Shifting My Inner Dialogue
Be Kind to Yourself
Mental health is important. What we say to ourselves moment to moment affects our behaviors. Be kind to yourself.
This is especially for my friends who are survivors of debilitating conditions. I know it’s hard—it’s challenging, exhausting, and painful at times. I’m hoping that something I share this month might offer a moment of connection, or even a flicker of hope.
Months After the Stroke
In the beginning, all I could draw were circles and lines. Later, 6 months into drawing circles and lines, I got better.
Even though my brain was exhausted. My body was unreliable. My hands were shaky, and my thoughts were even shakier. I had to wrestle with the harsh inner critic that whispered, “This isn’t good enough,” and “You’ll never be the same.” Tears began to form, but I kept telling myself, “you're going to be ok,” just be patient.
I still had my training. I tapped into what I knew as a psychotherapist—specifically, cognitive behavioral therapy. I began identifying my thought patterns. I recognized the distorted thinking, the catastrophizing, the all-or-nothing beliefs. I challenged them gently, the same way I once guided clients through it.
“These shapes aren’t meaningless”, I told myself. They’re movement. They’re practice. They’re proof I’m showing up. Eventually, my lines looked like lines, circles like circles. I was beginning to see noticeable improvements.
So I kept drawing. Over and over—circles, loops, spirals. Some soft, some messy. But they were mine.
Eventually, those repeated marks transformed. Out of the loops came eyes, beaks, wings—whimsical birds began to take shape. I posted one yesterday, but it all started with this: circles layered over one another in blue, gray, and brown. I sit here, teary eyed, because I'm looking back over hundreds of pages of scribbles, drawings, and paintings from the last four years and I'm feeling amazing at my progress. Happy tears today. Happy tears. I'm a bit fatigued today, but, that's ok. Got my writing done ✔️
Art helped me quiet the noise in my head. Each circle was a moment of presence, a step away from the negative thinking. It was CBT in motion—through ink, not words.
Sometimes healing looks like a bunch of circles. And sometimes, that’s more than enough.
“Circles of Hope” [shown below] along with one of my earlier paintings.
Stay Creative My Friends & Be Gentle with Yourself.
Michelle Joy Brown-Artist
you made healing look like quiet rebellion, drawing the same damn line until it stopped shaking. i don’t know what’s more powerful. the art, the tears, or the fact that you stayed.