Finding Par in Choppy Waters

The painting feels like stepping into a really good day. In the foreground, the golf course stretches out, green, open and inviting. A space made for movement, for being active without pressure, and honestly? Ambling around a golf course on a beautiful day is nothing but joy!

Beyond the palm trees and the sand - the smaller part of the scene - the ocean, which is a little choppy, with shifting blues and silvers and a reminder that conditions aren’t always perfectly smooth, but still something you can move through, work with, and even enjoy!

This choppy water feels like the most honest part of the painting - as it represents MS as it actually is in my life; present, sometimes unpredictable, requiring adjustment, but not stopping anything, and beautiful in its own way. A necessary part of the landscape that has its own beauty, and might be viewed very differently to someone who doesn’t have MS, or even with a different manifestation of MS. I see it as representing that I can still be out there, still doing, still moving; you just need to read the conditions and adapt as you go. That’s not a limitation - it’s a way of engaging with the world. MS is part of my life, but it doesn’t define the whole picture.

The scene gives me a feeling of possibility, and being somewhere I have chosen - somewhere that brings me energy and fills my cup. It holds space for joy, and activity - not as something to overcome but as something available and accessible to me on my terms.

Nothing here feels restricted to me - or showing that that people impose upon me as how I should be feeling, or how much I am capable of. The choppy water is part of the story - something to respond to, to adjust around, yes, but it doesn’t take over the scene. The parts that bring me joy are the overwhelming majority of the scene. The choppy water is part of my picture, not separate or excluded, but something to understand and work with. A scene that might look different to someone else with MS, or without MS at all, but I know how to move in these conditions now, and recognise that it’s still possible to be in it fully with joy and movement and choice. It’s a small part of the scene. Life is good!