I Create So I Can Breathe

I create because it is a love letter to myself—a foreign language only my heart hears and my mind wonders. Words to doubts unsaid. Paint to emotions caressed. Voice to the cries inside that yearn to be heard and loved. This love letter is a reminder each and everyday that I am doing all that I can, the best that I can, and I deserve to empower my soul in all its inevitable glory through the brush strokes of my own master peace. It is a carefully unearthed embrace that fills the crevices of my insecurities and tempers me to tranquility at the hands of my brave resilience. It is the sixth love language to myself that can only be touched by my full love and serviced by my whole art.

I create because I want to build my own world that has yet to be defined in this life we call reality that has already been defined for us. It is exhausting, even suffocating, to find our place in this constricting reality, this condescending society, this endless ocean of heavy currents, rising tides, and salt. We’re only left with its crumbs to build sand castles from. So I’ll build a sand castle and call it home to my thoughts, walls to my words, echoes to my stories, windows to my emotions—everything no one can take from me so I can take up space. And breathe.

I create because it is a promise to my future that I am enough, and always will be enough, and this space I’m paving towards holds uncertainties that will no longer frighten me. I believe there is a universe undiscovered within me and the only way to find it is to unriddle puzzle pieces scattered through the visions I see, the people I meet, and the moments that connect me intensely to the world. There is a fire, an emblem of pure magic, seeded deep inside my heart and the more I reach to others and inspire hope through my art, the more it lights up with a velvety warmth that ignites an essence of a purpose. My north star may not yet be known to me but that’s okay because I’m finding that in creating what ever drives my heart and fuels my passions will lead me to its ultimate meeting place when I’m ready—it’s only a matter of believing in my truth and sticking to it.

I create because I am reaching out, not with my hand, but with my heart manifested in my works of art. I am expressing my intentions, not with words, but through emotional connection and profound empathy. My art is an ode to my true purpose as I discover new ways in which I can help others because I believe there is a world where our art is meant for each other, too. It is meant so we can communicate with one another that isn’t through hateful words, criticizing judgments, or painful vocalization. And in this world, our creations reveal who we truly are in a raw and honest beauty that isn’t defined by color, identity, or stigmas. Our art is our love and support for one another that transcends beyond definitive embodiments. This universal language of expression, of intimacy, of never-ending freedom is the kind of liberation our souls need to thrive together, and for ourselves.

I create because

Creation is articulation.

And to create is to be art.

Mai Nguyen is a creative entrepreneur and lifestyle blogger under the name Little Mai Sunshine. Her brand’s mission is to openly share raw conversations through her personal journey, especially advocating for mental health, in an effort to help herself and others achieve a wholesome connection with their realities. You can find her work on www.littlemaisunshine.com and follow her Instagram @littlemaisunshine!