About a Dot
The Visual Metaphor Project When we talk about insecurity, we think about the crippling fears and the sadness that engulfs us. Our mind tells us things we don’t wish on others. Insecurity even causes us to react in ways we normally wouldn’t; Sometimes we lash out in anger, sometimes we find ourselves paralyzed by the words of others. Even if we know that we are insecure, and surely everybody has something they wish to hide away - alone in the dark - , it is only through acknowledgement of our fears and compassion towards ourselves can we then truly start to help ourselves. Insecurity burrows through us in intrusive little pathways and, akin to a termite infestation, we don’t find out until damage has been wrought. Using circles and text, I aim to express the cyclical journey of recovery through images and storytelling. Done by Fernandez Leong
Process of coping with insecurity: 1. The problem 2. The search 3. The Journey a. Forgiveness (of self and past) b. Acceptance (of present and future) 4. The Solution a. Self Approval b. Good self talk c. Confidence d. Self-care
Rules: The dot is your main unit. We shall only introduce other dots to denote other figures.
A dot is a unit, a simplification of a human. A dot in a middle of the square has balance.
Humans do not live in isolation; Everyone is interconnected. As much as we need to be alone at times, we also need to remember how to connect.
But humans, they rarely stay balanced in life. Something inevitably comes by to change you.
Things that may seem simple have the power to bring you down against your will. It changes your perspective.
Little thoughts surround and overwhelm you; they nip at you from within, or outside. You catch yourself thinking maybe, if we could see things a certain way, then perhaps we can keep these thoughts at bay.
Over time, you find that these thoughts, they have been steadily creeping slowly, quickly, and surely, encroaching upon you.
So much so that they become part of you. Were these thoughts always there or did you somehow pick it up from somewhere?
Bad thoughts can swarm in your head like termites in wood, insidous, painful, but hidden.
They snake through us. They eat us from outside to inside. We are split through with holes in our minds and heart.
Little by little, a person is eaten alive inside. We fall.
How does a dot know when things are too much to handle? What are the signs? Could it be the ever-present negative thoughts that threaten to disintegrate our self worth?
How can we move on? How do we stop being so jaded? So tired of our own existence in relation to the existence of others?
1.
Forgive yourself and your past, you are not the wounds that are left in your tired body. Somehow we’ll find a way to be made anew.
Your body is always your own. Your self worth will not be defined by the achievements of others. Neither do we know what thoughts eats through others at night. They have their own wounds too.
There will be a day, when one can truly say, I accept myself fully, wholly. I accept the present me and the me that I will be in the future.
We keep hoping. With optimism comes the drive to look for solutions to help ourselves.
I approve of myself and my existence. I have meaning.
2. Somedays the holes - they don’t fully heal. I guess that’s why humans are all unique. We all have different scars; and we have to learn ours well. There are many ways to be a human.
3. When those voices come back, and the enemies sneak back in, poised to strike, we are ready. We tell ourselves it’s going to be okay.
It’s nothing I haven’t gone through before.
It’s really nothing I haven’t gone through before. We are resilient beings. These thoughts prey on our visceral fear of worthlessness, we have to bring us back to ourselves, by remembering how we face it before. Even if we canot do it alone, it’s not wrong to ask for help.
4. I trust that slowly, I’ll build up a confidence inside me that allows me to stand up and be strong. It’ll power me through because I believe in myself.
5. I will care for myself. My actions will reflect my thoughts and my mind and body will be more in sync together.
6. Through this, I get stronger. When I cast doubt on my abililty, and I see the scars of previous wounds, I tell myself, I’ve got this. I know myself.
7. I trust that with these skillsets, I know how to handle myself in the future. I know how to look out for myself.
Maybe then, with these thoughts, I can forge a life that I’m okay with.
Maybe, somewhere along the way, I find that I can help others too.
Afterall, aren’t we all interconnected? A dot is a simplification of a human, a being who exists in relation to others. It will always be seeking a fine balance between itself and others.
End.
Well, if you got this far, thank you for reading this piece of work. I would say this book is still a work in progress, as much as working on onself will always be a work in progress. Insecurity is something I’ve always struggled with due to low self-esteem and that I didn’t know about any other alternatives besides feeling really bad about myself. When I promised myself to work on my jealously and insecurity, I start learning to open up and I found myself sharing about my worries with friends this semester. I have a lighter heart. In sharing my journey with insecurity, I hope to be able to create a story that reasonates with people. To me, we are all, first and foremost, humans, and to be humans meant that we are somehow intimately connected. In this book, I hope to connect with our humanity in sharing stories about insecurity.
A Visual Communication Project by Fernandez Leong