For most of us, we see the world in color with brilliant spectrums and endless options of emotion evoked to indulge in. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are days we are forced to live in the gray. It could be a conversation that has left us emotionally wrecked unable be anything other than a mindless Netflix* zombie, the death of a loved one, a nippy comment from a friend, a breach of trust from the person you cannot live without.
The amazing thing about the color gray is that it is a neutral color, one that not only goes with many things, but it can be manipulated into other colors, provide shadowing and shading (in other words, contrast), and a break for the eyes in an otherwise oversaturated life.
Much like an artist’s canvas, if you don’t have the shadows in addition to the highlights, it makes for a very uninteresting work of art. It’s flat, lacks depth, and is rather hard to look at or make sense of.
You cannot have beauty in life without the pain. Pain and hardships are going to happen. When things are out of our control, the choices we make in response to those circumstances are a true testing of our heart and character. We have the power to choose to get up and make something from the pain. To turn ashes to beauty, sorrow to joy, and mold the darkness into something that contrasts our life so beautifully we have depth and others can see the light in us.
So, how will YOU allow your gray days to forge your existence? Share your stories in the reply section below.
* You know you are in the 21st century when Word no longer spell-checks “Netflix”.
The Every-Day Artist 