Not AI.

This is a digital self-portrait I created almost 20 years ago for a college project.

I was trying to express a feeling I couldn’t yet name.

That I could be deeply grounded - rooted, present, calm… and moments later, floating utterly untethered from reality.

Half tree, half air. Half anchored, half adrift.

Long before I understood inattentive ADHD, I lived inside extremes.

Sharp focus and total distraction. Stillness and restlessness.

A swirling storm locked inside a glass orb that reflected what the world wanted to see.

Now I know I was drawing a kind of map… one I’m still learning how to read.