I’ve never felt good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, kind enough – enough. My perpetual striving toward an intangible zenith has too often led to self-destruction. This acrylic painting explores my longtime battles with control and perfectionism. It depicts a culmination, a breaking point. I utilize looser and more spontaneous strokes than I normally employ in order to convey movement and chaos.

Isaac Newton's third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In this painting, I repurpose this principle in the abstract: when you try too hard to bend life, infinitely complex and unyielding, to your own will – as represented by the twisting action of the hands – inevitably, life will break you.

The disintegration of the hands is caused by the tension; the tighter they grip, the harder they twist, the greater their destruction. Thus, the remedy is self-evident: letting go. Such is the ethos I try to apply to my life: more exploration, more forgiveness, more compassion. As the Dalai Lama expressed, “We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”