On April 2021, I was one of the lucky aspiring artists who attended a 6-week online comics course by Ms. Ruan Junting, a well-known cartoonist and an associate professor at the China Academy of Art. Her course is illuminating and fruitful; it bolstered my art performance and awareness of comics. What she said that got etched on my mind was “When you paint, you are not proving how good you are, but expressing who you are to the world.”

Her words made me ponder my purpose. I loved to paint, but I also dreaded it and it is all because I did it wrong. Ms. Ruan said, “You used to fall into endless anxiety because you were too eager to prove that you could draw well.” She was right—my motivation was to show the world my talent, causing me to be frustrated and end up procrastinating.

However, when neglected and abused rabbits came into my life, my purpose of drawing switched from getting compliments to giving a voice to rabbits. It was a very meaningful shift as I have become better at dealing with mistakes and procrastination. They were no longer beasts that would eat me up. I now see them as 5distant scenery I passed by on my way to my destination. I am still far from completely overcoming my difficulties, but I am sure who I am: I am the creator of a voice for rabbits.