Community Expressions
Art and writing from our community
Welcome to the heart of canDID Expressions, where you will find writing and art about daily life with trauma-based dissociation from those with lived experience.
Creative prompts
Writing and art prompts
A few prompts to get your creative juices flowing. Try one, then share what you make with the community.
“The job of being human is so hard, and it is the only job there is left, though we keep on pretending otherwise.”
Toni Morrison
Writing prompt
Make a list of things that come with being human, the things we all seem to experience, need, feel, struggle with, or long for, such as loving, losing, choosing, changing, making mistakes, etc. Choose one and write about it in detail. Describe a specific moment when you lived it. Where were you, and who else was there, if anyone? Why does that moment stay with you? What did it teach you about yourself? How does it reveal your relationship to the “job” of being human described in the quote?
Art prompt
Draw, paint, sculpt, use magazine images, and/or mixed media (such as fabric, photos, or found objects) to create a representation of what being human means to you. Include the things you feel, need, love, fear, wonder about, and struggle with, the ordinary and unexpected things that make you who you are. What did you choose to include, and why did those pieces feel important to show? Is there anything you wanted to include but couldn’t find a way to represent it? If someone looked at this without knowing you, what might they see of their own humanness? What does the process reveal about your relationship to the “job” of being human?
The gallery
Art
Galactic BabiesArtwork · Jurmanni
Paint it Out-RelationshipArtwork · Anonymous
Paint It OutPainting · H
canDID ConnectionsArtwork
Inner OuterArtworkOur library
Writing
- Will I Find“It’s off again it seems to me / the never planned but needful plea”Read →
- Castles Under Lightening“My therapist tells me that dissociation is a skill / ”Read →
- The Choice“They say happiness is a fleeting thing, / a whisper lost in the wind—”Read →
- The Homecoming“I came out, and they had it all figured out.”Read →
- Just Be Yourself! Really?“What are the rules?”Read →
- The Menu“The last two weeks have been particularly stressful, probably more than I realize.”Read →
- Threshold“I count the petals on the flower.”Read →
- Parts and Writing Group“I wanted to be in our writing group this afternoon, as I do every Sunday, even though writing has felt distant to me.”Read →
- Rachel’s Dilemma“They call me sassy.”Read →
- Inner World – Outer World“I’m Randall.”Read →
- It was Nice to Be With All of Them“Someday, hopefully in the near future, I’ll be able to honestly say that it was nice to be with all of them—with everyone in my system.”Read →
- Like I was Just Here“It’s challenging to return to being present when someone else has been managing daily life.”Read →