When You’re Hurting / When You’re Healing Project

When You’re Hurting Project has recently become the When You’re Healing Project. Hurt is a catalyst for healing, from my experience with my womanhood the hurt I have experience has been the cause of the growth and change in my life. Most importantly the hurt has caused me to seek out practices and forms of restoration. Although the circumstances of my past are hard to face, in fact so hard I often think I am getting worse before I even realize I am better in some ways, healing is continual, it is daily work to recover from a pain or trauma that we will live with throughout our lives.

The pain does not have to define us, God did not create us to be broken things, he is not an artist who throws his work on the floor and never comes back to it again. Instead, I believe he is a master sculptor, one who starts with a whole piece of clay. Have you ever seen new clay? It is fresh in a perfect rectangular block cool and smooth to the touch, you can’t fathom why someone would disrupt that. Then God picks us up slaps us on to a board and begins to shape us, the shape is unclear and rough and always needs more water because with out water it dries out cracks and breaks apart. So, he works on the clay and works on it and then when the clay is shaped and beautiful to what some might considered finished, he picks up a mallet and a chisel and starts breaking off more pieces of the item. Breaking off the unnecessary material. The editing might take some time, then there is still reshaping, buffing, smoothing, polishing, shining, coating and letting the sculpture dry.

That piece of clay is us. Born with out a mark ready for the world and then situation after situation shapes our identity through some not so pleasant experiences. Like the clay we are unfished works that will take time to become the full masterpiece, I believe that our hurt is not with out purpose. Yes, it would be amazing to go through life with out pain and suffering, however we are the products of what we live through and my hope is that through our hurt we can heal. I have found that when people share their stories, we as humans find a common ground with one another.

This project is for women by women who have hurt that they are either currently living through or have survived and are learning about their healing process or can look back on their experiences to recognize how far they have come. This project is to encourage other women healing through circumstances they may not have disclosed with anyone before that your story is valuable and worth sharing. Your story, your healing can be the catalyst for someone else to do the same. Our experiences are not all the same, but we are all living through things and deserve our voices to be heard.

This project is anonymous, all identities and faces will remain private if you choose to participate. I am accepting story submissions and opening interview time slots for people who are willing to directly talk with me over the phone about their stories. You may submit a photo of yourself in a position that comforts you when you are hurting to partner with your story. This body of work will be written as well as drawn. I want to honor your voices. Our hurt is not without purpose and our healing is a direct result of that past. I truly hope that even if it does not feel like the healing has begun in an area that participating in this project feels like a step towards healing.

Thank you in advance for your vulnerability.