Never Cease to Wonder.

Two weeks of revisions led me to the creation of the Zegasus. I combined a zebra with Pegasus along with a unicorn horn that was inspired by a narwhal. The image blends both fantasy with real world elements where magic and wonder collide. The background clouds are from a photo my dad took on a recent trip back East coming home by airplane. To spark the magic, I added the aurora borealis in the night sky. This forms a bridge where imaginary worlds converge with reality. The final image made during July-Disability Pride Month is a reminder that we all need a bit of wonder and magic. We often live in a world full of expectations and hustle with goals and deadlines to meet. That’s where magic comes in. If we look and listen, quiet spaces remind us life is more than completing a checklist or giving someone or something a label. A touch of magic and wonder adds sparkle to the ordinary. To dream of future possibilities, even if we can’t quite yet explain them.

I think wonder reminds us to look up. We can often get caught up in stress or schedules but wonder is what makes us pause. It’s written in the stars, in a favorite song we listen to that moves us, or from looking at artwork that makes us feel seen again. Being on the spectrum, I find routines useful, but wonder is the magic that pulls me out of autopilot mode.

It helps me imagine beyond limits. It’s not just fairy tales. It’s believing in possibility, in change, in something bigger than what’s in front of us right here and now. It gives us permission to dream our dreams for the future, to have hope that we can create something new. For neurodivergent people like me the world can sometimes feel too fast paced or out of rhythm for how our minds work. Wonder gives us the freedom to rewrite the rules.

Wonder and magic fuels my own creativity and connection. Whether it’s dreaming up and drawing creatures with wings and horns or imagining secret worlds, it sparks creativity. Creativity is how I connect with others, and my true self. Whenever I work hard and remain true while making a new piece of art, it’s a way to express myself without words.

There is a touch of healing in wonder that softens the sharp edges. It gives us a safe place to land, a way to process sadness or anxiety or even the complexity of being a human. It reminds us there is more to life than internal struggles. I think we don’t need magic to escape reality. We need wonder and imagination to enrich it, to bring color to the gray zones, to reawaken inner joy and remind us that even in the darkest of moments, if we look harder, we might just see some glimmer of light in the future ahead. Even just a little touch of wonder like a shooting star, observing a blazing sunset, or maybe even imagining a strange creature like the Zegasus can bring a spark of wonder to our world. That what if scenario has the power to change how we see everything.

So dream wildly. Believe in impossible things. And never cease to wonder.