At Least I Can Paint

Erik Austin
Aug 3
1 min read

Say what you will about theme park haunts, but they let me do something I’m actually good at: painting.

Today I was back at SeaWorld, brush in hand, turning random hunks of foam and plywood into something spooky and weird and, yeah, kind of beautiful. I lose myself in it—in a good way. There’s something really satisfying about transforming a blank wall into something that makes people gasp or laugh or shiver.

It's physical, it's creative, it’s messy—and I love it.

I don’t always feel like I’m crushing it in life right now, but painting the haunts reminds me I’ve got skills. I’ve got vision. And even when I feel like the world’s falling apart, there’s still something I can create from the chaos.

At least I can paint. And that counts for something.