I don’t really know how it started, but I slipped into a depression. Maybe I was overwhelmed. Maybe I was tired of everything and everyone. I just wanted to hide. I stopped going out and spent most of my time alone in my room, painting. Painting became my world. My easel felt like the only stable thing in my life. I poured so much of myself into it that it almost felt alive. Looking back, I think it became both a comfort and a reminder of how much I was struggling. When I sta