SCHOLASTIC ART & WRITING FLAUNT IT AWARD FINALIST

My “difference” is one I make myself. It seems I am constantly comparing my habits and lifestyle to others. I’m the one who tells myself, “you’re different, you don’t belong, you don’t work hard enough”. I have been struggling with severe depression for a few years now. My anxiety and depression seem to keep me from my homework, social life, and even daily hygiene. I feel so little compared to the successful people that surround my life. I want to do more, but it is so difficult to even begin to take the first step. This self-portrait of myself is a way of expressing what I need in order to take the first step. In my lost expression, hands caress me, and the wings at the top of the portrait shield me from my anxieties for just a moment. They tell me that they are proud, even if I am just doing little things like taking one step out of bed. With these loving acts of support, I gain the strength to move forward. The little star children dancing at the bottom of the portrait are the pieces of me excited with where my steps will take me, little by little in the future.