Through the Window of the Unknown

There are moments in life that feel like standing before a stage you’ve never stepped onto, or gazing out a window that opens into the vast unknown. My painting carried that image before I even realized it—an instinctive outpouring of emotion under the moon’s watchful eye. Looking at it now, I see fear and first steps interlaced: the tension of what the imagination conjures, and the quiet truth waiting just beyond it.

The mind has a way of tormenting us with shadows, convincing us that the first step is impossible, unbearable. But reality is rarely as cruel as what we imagine. That step forward, however small, begins to reshape everything. It carries us from paralysis into movement, from dread into strength. Even in the midst of chaos or trauma, survival itself is proof: you did it, you endured, you are still here.

Taking the first step will always feel frightening. But it is also the doorway into understanding, into the strength you may not yet see in yourself. And once you’ve crossed it, you’ll know—the step was never as impossible as your fear made it seem.

The First Step

Take the first step, though shadows loom,
fear is loud, but not your doom.
The mind may weave its cruel disguise,
but truth is softer than its lies.

The unknown bends, it will reveal,
the strength you thought was hard to feel.
Each trembling breath becomes your guide,
you live, you rise, with wings untied.

With Grace & Ink,

Mai