How Watercolor Saved Me
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Art, Healing, and Living Life on My Own Terms
I didn’t start painting because I had time. I started painting because I had pain.
There was a season in my life where everything felt like it was breaking at once. A painful divorce, a toxic work environment, the weight of raising a baby on my own, and the shattering news that my father had cancer. Life felt heavy, unpredictable, and unkind. But in the quiet moments, when the world was too loud or too dark, watercolor gave me space to breathe.
Then came the lockdown. The world stopped, but my inner world kept spiraling. Loneliness crept in deeply during that time, and like so many others, I started questioning everything. The stress of working in a toxic environment during a global crisis became too much. So I did something bold.
I quit my job, not because I had everything figured out, but because I needed to ease my life and protect my peace.
And in that silence that followed, watercolor became my anchor.
The Gentle Gift of Watercolor
Watercolor doesn’t force itself. It flows. It softens. It surprises you. It taught me how to let go, how to accept things as they are, and how to find beauty in imperfection. It was the only thing I could control during a time when I had no control. I would paint while my baby napped, or in the late hours of the night when I couldn’t sleep. Slowly, color became comfort. Brushstrokes became self trust.
Watercolor helped me feel again without needing to explain anything. It let me process pain in layers, transparent, emotional, soft. And the more I painted, the more I remembered who I was before all the grief. I wasn’t just a mother trying to hold everything together. I was an artist. A woman with a story. A soul that still wanted joy.
A Father’s Wisdom That Still Lives in Me
After my father passed away, it felt like a light had gone out. But in so many ways, he’s still with me in every painting. He always encouraged me to live life on my own terms, to laugh more, to stay curious, to feel youthful no matter my age. He taught me to love life fully, its mess, its beauty, its unexpected turns.
And that’s exactly what watercolor helped me do.
Turning Pain Into Purpose
Today, when I paint with watercolor, I’m not escaping. I’m arriving. I’m reconnecting with the part of me that is playful, open, and alive. I pour emotion into every piece. Not for perfection, but for presence. That’s why I share my art. Because maybe someone else is going through their own quiet storm. And maybe, like me, they’ll find healing in a brush, a stroke, a wash of soft color.
Watercolor didn’t fix my life, but it gave me back my voice.
It reminded me that even in grief, there is growth
Even in loss, there is light.
And even in the most fragile moments, you can begin again with color.
Step into the soft life
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(c) 2025 Huda R. Farhan. All rights reserved
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