Kintsugi

There are many things that I have heard about Kintsugi as it relates to different areas of life. This article is mostly focusing on seeing mental health challenges in a different light.  Everyone has something that they have to deal with on a regular basis and can sometimes make us feel broken in those areas. It can negatively affect us, or we can try and see those challenges in a new way that brings hope and strength.

Kintsugi is a Japanese word that means golden joinery. It is a Japanese art form that is used to join broken ceramics with powder gold, silver, or platinum. The purpose of the art form is to mend broken fragments to restore the beauty of the pieces without hiding the fact the ceramic was broken at one point and joined back together. Too often, people get the mentality that they have to be normal at society standards or achieve some form of perfectionism by appearing to have it all together. This art form reminds me that the beauty of people is not about how well you have everything together, but the ability to be honest with ourselves. We all have scars and undesirable things that have happened to us but doesn’t mean that takes away from the beauty of the person that we are.

We all are broken in our way, but it’s what we do with the pieces. Do you try and hide the shame you feel for your life not going as previously planned? Or Do you highlight your imperfections as a way of giving your life new meaning?

When I was younger, I had a bad problem of pulling everything together to appear perfect. Everyone had an expectation of me, and I felt and still feel less of a person because I wasn’t. Even though I’m a little better at it, I find some peace in exposing my imperfections. It makes me see myself for myself, and to stop pretending, I am always okay. Which to be honest was a lot of work and energy to keep up the act that I can now use towards my healing.

Another struggle I have is with depression and my voice. From this situation, I had learned when I started sharing my story, I began to give my pain a voice and it had less of a hold over me. Even though by sharing my story revealed the cracks in me as a person, my voice became the powdered gold used to mend me. I will not be the same person, but a better person that can communicate the different things going on with me. A person that is developing coping skills that help me to stay hopeful on my wellness journey.

The most important thing that I have learned from Kintsugi is by highlighting our flaws we give our life a new meaning.