Life often presents us with challenges that shake the very foundation of our mental and emotional well-being. Whether it’s navigating personal loss, facing unexpected adversity, or adapting to significant changes in our communities, the road to healing can feel overwhelming.

We often think we’ve outgrown the boxes we were placed in, only to realize we’ve built new ones, sometimes tighter, sometimes harder to see. These boxes can look like outdated roles, limiting beliefs, or patterns we keep repeating. They can keep us from exploring parts of ourselves that are already there, waiting to be accessed, nurtured, and celebrated. This reflection isn’t just about stepping outside the box. It’s about looking inside the box too, seeing what we’ve forgotten, what we’ve buried, and what deserves to be reclaimed. It’s about realizing the box itself is a narrative, and like any story, it can be rewritten.

This is why we created A Place to Be Seen, a living art installation in our office anchored by a guiding poem. It invites everyone who steps inside to pause, reflect, and choose a small mirror to place on the wall. It’s not about labels or boxes. It’s about remembering yourself, every messy, bright, shadowed, still-changing part. The mirrors remind us that how we see ourselves, how others see us, and how we choose to show up all matter. Some days we glow alone. Some days we glow alongside others. It’s all part of being fully human.

Trauma can shatter lives, disrupt the very core of who we are, and fill our existence with secrets, pain, and turmoil. It's a journey that transforms us, often in ways we least expect.

It is our hope that our readers and followers will acknowledge that we are holistic, complex, and multi-faceted human beings. Our wellbeing is conscious and self-directed. The wellness wheel reminds us that wellness is not merely the absence of suffering or illness, but the personal, meaningful, and intentional striving for positive wellbeing.