New Year and Sowing the Seeds of Change
If I were to mark the most challenging seasons of my life, this past spring would easily make the top two!
Entering 2026, I carried a quiet inner knowing that I needed to prepare for what was to come. As it turns out, that intuition was exactly right. Now, as summer finally begins to warmth our beautiful Finland, I’ve had a moment to breathe and reflect on the first quarter of the year. I can officially name it a season of deep change, the kind of change that is undeniably tough, but absolutely necessary for growth.
To say I have been busy would be an understatement. I’ve had little to no free time, but looking back, I am incredibly proud of the seeds that have been sown.
A Journey Through Three Art Exhibitions
During this first quarter of the year, I poured my heart into creating art and hosting three different exhibitions across Finland!
Each one featured entirely unique pieces and carried a different story:
"Funky Foxes" (Tampere): A vibrant, joyful collection of whimsical foxes that brought a bit of playfulness to the winter months.
"Woodland Stories" (Porvoo): An exhibition showcasing my own little fairytale, brought to life alongside watercolor illustrations of gentle forest creatures.
"When Birds Stop Singing" (Naantali): My first-ever spatial art installation. I transformed an entire room into a living embodiment of one of my poems, exploring the delicate beauty of mortality.
Alongside the somewhat intense creative demands of my art, my professional life expanded in new directions too. I stepped into the role of Social Media Manager for both Alma Oasis and Holistico.
Long Train Rides: From Home Forest to the Sea and Back
These exhibitions have blessed and, if I'm being honest, occasionally cursed me with the requirement of traveling all across Finland.
I want to take a moment to be completely vulnerable with you:
There were several deeply sentimental moments during these little adventures that brought tears to my eyes. Sitting on those long train rides, watching the Finnish landscape blur past the window, I couldn't help but look back at my own personal journey.
Just a few years ago, I was told by several people that I would never make it far in life. They said I would just get stuck in North Karelia, and sneered that my only "potential" as a young woman would be in the adult industry. Of course, I knew better than to take those words to heart.
I knew who I was, but of course, it hurt a lot. Now, whenever I sit on a train carrying my paintings to yet another exhibition city, I look outside the window and remember those words, and shed a tear of pure gratitude.
The Best Kind of Growth
As a highly sensitive person, I’ve always had a bad "habit" of letting these nasty comments and past traumas crawl under my skin staying there for years and years. But as I sat on that train, I realized something beautiful: I had been so busy building these little projects of my own, that I had completely forgotten about them.
It wasn't until I was deep in the middle of doing the work that it suddenly hit me: the teenage version of me would never believe I am here!
Thinking back to those cruel predictions of my past didn't make me sad anymore. Instead, I felt an overwhelming wave of pride and joy. This wasn't about revenge. It was about pure dedication and the absolute love for art that brought me to this point.
This wasn't a battle to defeat the villains of my past. It was simply the moment the quiet girl from the forest realized she was the author of her own destiny all along.
When the final curtain fell on all my projects, I returned home to my forest weary and deeply tired from my travels. My body finally released all the stored-up stress the only way it knew how: by getting sick. I slept for days, locked away the noise of social media, and chose to retreat into a cocoon of quiet recovery. During this hectic, raw period, I lost a lot. Some connections and ties to the outside world simply drifted away, leaving a weight that felt heavy, yet perhaps necessary.
Some might call this time a Dark Night of the Soul: a period where the old foliage must wither away to make room for the new.
But as I have rested, meditated, and felt my breath grow deeper, the shadows have begun to shift. Now, as Finland wakes up to the warmth, I feel ready and I am stepping out of the cocoon with a cleared mind, a rested spirit, and an eagerness to explore this blooming world around me!
My mind is already buzzing with new ideas, and I cannot wait to see what wild and beautiful things will grow next.
Thank you for wandering into my world
