Love Versus Vulnerability!

2015

I haven’t spoken with my mother or my brother in over a year. No need of feeling sorry for me, it’s typical and common for my family. But it still saddens me every day knowing that my relationship with my family is a big black hole. I keep telling myself that I can’t let it affect my life. I write this because I’m tired of letting it bother me. I choose not to speak with my mother and my brother chooses not to speak to me. I’m tired of feeling belittled by them. I remember a time in high school where my mother got mad at me and didn’t speak to me for over a year. And that made my brother and my father not to speak to me either. It was a difficult time for me. My whole family disconnected from me and acted as if I was DEAD. I would walk past them in the hallway and get phone calls from my friends (I remember my brother saying, “bitch, get the phone!”) and that would be my only communication from my family; Bitch, get the phone! At that time, I was angry with their actions and I rebelled. Smoking, alcohol, and drugs were my escape. I was walking by myself to puberty, thinking I knew everything. I was ONLY fourteen years old. Still today, I don’t know what I did to cause the silence, but it seems as if in my family, it becomes like a domino effect. If I anger one person in the household, the others will just follow and keep a distant. It feels like shit but everyone is raised differently.

Now I have my own children to raise. And I don’t want them to feel what I felt. But I can’t focus. I keep going off tangent and drift to my past nightmares. I write this thought because there are many people out there seeking love where there is none to sought for. People want what they cannot have. I don’t know why, but it seems like the nature of things. I wanted wavy hair, so I permed my hair; got the curls and now I want my straight hair back.  We’re never satisfied, I am not satisfied. I want more! I wanted to feel loved by my family, I wanted them to love me unconditionally, I wanted them to give me hug and tell me that I’m worth it, that I’m special….But all I was thinking was what I wanted. How about what they wanted? I’m sure I wasn’t easy to raise and even a nightmare at times. I was a girl with rage. I don’t know. But the whole time, I wasted time on what I want. I wanted what others perceived as having love. Again, I would ask God, why he put me on this earth? Why he chose me to be born into this family? Others would tell me that time would heal the hurt. Some would tell me that life is too short. I feel exponentially lonely and vulnerable. Brene Brown states “The Power of Vulnerability” Being vulnerable is a good thing. Being vulnerable also represents ones whole heart.

As I struggle each day and life becomes harder to discover, I keep thinking to myself that my behavior can be negative towards my children. As I am showing my family that it’s okay to be vulnerable, sad, and lonely. It’s okay, cause mommy will get through this. And it shows that I’m not giving up and persevering. I keep reminding myself that my family is most precious in my life. I teach my children that no matter what they do and what they say to me, I will love them no matter what. I believe that what happens in ones childhood could be a detrimental and life breaking thing. That that one happening in ones past can change everything.

Until next time.

 

SariaHArt

I am a second generation Korean American female that struggled terribly during my childhood and to my adulthood. In my family, my life was nonexistent. I was resented, unloved, neglected, and treated like a ghost from my biological parents. My father was a manic depressed, alcoholic during my whole life. My mother is a “narcissistic mother” whom never wanted me and told me that her greatest regret in life was having to stop breastfeeding my brother because I was born.

At the age of 20, something static happened. My life changed and I ferociously pursued my life as an artist. I ecstatically announced my newfound passion to my family, and they brutally laughed and impertinently told me I was crazy. Shockingly, for the first time in my life, I numbed them out and passionately started learning all about the ARTS. Creativity was not in my vocabulary, as I never drew as a kid, nor did any arts and crafts.

Anxiously, I took my passion for painting and drawing and started enrolling in all the art classes at a community college. I dedicated myself in so many art classes and studied about art night and day. I judiciously isolated myself with art. I forcefully wanted all the knowledge about art, artists, history…etc that time passed so quickly, that within 2 years, I have taken so many classes that I received an AA in Drawing and Painting. At 2003, Cerritos Community College awarded me “Student of the Year Curricular Art Award.” For the first time in my life, I felt pride and I knew this was my calling, passion, and purpose for my life. Since, I couldn’t afford to transfer to a prestigious university, I applied to only one school that was close to where I lived, California State University of Fullerton. From there, I graduated with a Deans List and received my BFA in 2007.

After graduation, I wanted to get experience, and produce series of artwork and only focusing on the purpose of my artwork. Merrily, 2007 was a dream and seemed effortless with all the upcoming events. The Bill Lowe Gallery in Santa Monica, CA had called me and asked me if they can represent me as one of their Artists, so I happily signed with them. A month later, TARFEST Festival of Film, Music, and art in Los Angeles CA, chose one of my art pieces “Choices” to be represented in the Korean Culture Center. Also, in 2007, I was chosen for an Artist Residency for two months and was the youngest artist to exhibit in “The Red Arrow Gallery” in Joshua Tree with two other artists. I was publicized in Korea Times, Los Angeles and an exclusive article about me as an artist in the Hi Desert Star in Joshua Tree News. In the last months of 2007 and first month of 2008, I was granted $600 to stay at Kimmel Harding Nelson Center in Nebraska for another artist residency. With the works that I produced at the residency, I was granted a $1000 honorarium, with a two month solo exhibition in Omaha, Nebraska at the Art Loft of Florence Mill. In 2009 I went to Madison, Wisconsin for another Residency and produced more than twenty works during my stay. At 2010, from those artworks, I was fortunate to be asked to show in a two artist exhibition in Stockton, California at the “LH Horton Gallery.” My artwork was hung throughout the gallery for a full month. ***MOST IMPORTANTLY, I want everyone to understand that anyone can learn anything if they put their heart into it. Never give up and don’t let yourself or others tell you otherwise. It doesn’t matter how old you are or how busy you are, if you want to learn how to draw and paint, it is 100% possible. Just believe in yourself and pursue your passion.

http://www.SariaHArt.com
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Is blood thicker than water? 2015