Room to feel our emotions.

In group therapy today, we talked about natural emotions — how they’re meant to move through us, not get stuck inside. They serve a purpose for connection, safety or protection. When we bury or avoid them, they don’t disappear; they settle in and start to rot.

The Inktober prompt for today was Vacant, and it lined up perfectly with that conversation. I drew a house — spooky, falling apart, with gnarled trees twisting in front of it and a lone raven perched under the moonlight. It looks abandoned and in disrepair, but that’s the point.

Just because something is vacant doesn’t mean it’s ideal to occupy. The same goes for our emotional spaces. If we don’t clear out what’s been sitting too long — fear, anger, guilt, grief — it festers and leaves us feeling vacant. Then when something new tries to move in, we are able to express and process it properly and it comes out as what’s been haunting us.

Art and tattoos give us a healthy way to process that — to explore those empty rooms within us and decide what we want to fill them with. It provides control over our emotions and allows us to process in a healthy way. Sometimes we create something beautiful out of what’s been haunting us.

We hope you will allow us the opportunity to help capture that important event in whatever form best suits you. Whether it be a full back piece or sleeve, a small tattoo with big meaning, or art on canvas.
⸻

“A reflection from John deGeest, Lead artist at Honor and Ink™ — where every mark tells a story”