My last painting of the year

Fingerpainting my heart out in my journal for close to two hours. No plan per usual. Simply some words, some color and a whole lot of heart. This is a perfect place to stop. And also—quietly—a perfect place to begin.

This piece is not “a floral” even though in its most simplest form that’s how it appears. This is a threshold painting.

I didn’t realize it then but in hindsight, the gold leaf border is doing something important psychologically—it’s creating a sanctum … a frame of reverence. I subconsciously turned the spread into an altar, which signals closure, yes, but also consecration.

I wasn’t just ending the year with this painting. I was sealing a chapter of my life.

This isn’t saying “new year, new me.”

It is saying:

I have lived.

I have learned.

I am done conforming.

I am choosing ease, colors that don’t match, shapes that emerge.

I am choosing new adventures over placid commitments.

I am choosing life without apology.

And then the perfect sticker: “Life is too short to live with regrets.”

Like saying: This chapter is complete. The becoming has already happened. I’m not asking to begin. I am continuing.

And maybe that’s the truth I’m carrying into 2026: I am no longer waiting to be more certain, more polished, more “there.” I am not trying to become someone new. The becoming has already happened. I am simply continuing.

This was the last page of the year. And it feels like a door.

Thank you for standing in this threshold with me.

માનસી