Hold On Tight, The Sun Is Gonna Rise

“Sometimes the words you don’t know how to say are the loudest
No one can shoulder the weight if they don’t know about it
Don’t be scared, you can pull back the curtain
Love ain’t afraid of sharing the burden
If there was a room full of people who cared, it’d be crowded”
Dan + Shay – Say So

As Pride Month nears it’s end, I’m finally finishing exploring the colors of the Transgender Pride Flag one stripe at a time. After spending time with the blue stripe and the pink stripe, this photograph focuses on the white stripe that sits at the center of the flag.

Designed by Monica Helms in 1999, the Transgender Pride Flag uses blue and pink to represent the traditional colors traditionally associated with boys and girls, while the white stripe represents people who are transitioning, those who are intersex, and those whose identities exist outside the gender binary.

What stands out to me about the white stripe is not just what it represents, but where it sits. Right in the center. Not at the beginning. Not at the end. It’s at the heart of the flag. There’s something meaningful about that placement. The design doesn’t place people who are transitioning, intersex, or non-binary identities at the edges as an exception or an afterthought. Instead, every stripe mirrors around that center point. The white stripe becomes part of the foundation. A reminder that identity has never been (or should be) as rigid or as simple as people sometimes want it to be.

That’s what resonates with me most. The white stripe feels like permission. Permission to not have everything figured out. There’s a strange pressure in life to always have an answer ready. To know exactly who you are. To have a clear direction. To move confidently from one stage of life into the next and never look back.

But very few people I know (and probably tons I don’t know) actually experience life that way. Most of us are constantly changing. Learning. Reconsidering things. Discovering new parts of ourselves through time, experience, and conversations we didn’t expect to matter as much as they did. Growth isn’t proof that we were wrong before. It’s proof that we’re still listening. That’s what I keep coming back to with the white stripe.

Because unlike so many symbols that feel final or declarative, this one doesn’t demand certainty. It doesn’t ask people to arrive before they’re ready. It simply creates room for possibility. It leaves space for people to exist as they are today while remaining open to whoever they may become tomorrow. I think there’s something quietly powerful about that.

Not every season of life gives us neat conclusions. Sometimes growth happens in ways we don’t notice at first. Sometimes understanding appears slowly. Sometimes we only recognize how much we’ve changed once we look back and realize we’ve become someone our younger selves couldn’t have imagined. Sometimes the most meaningful moments aren’t the ones where everything suddenly clicks into place. Sometimes they’re the moments where we allow ourselves to admit that we’re still learning.

That’s one of the reasons I ended up connecting this photo with Dan + Shay’s Say So. What stood out to me wasn’t the idea of having all the answers. It was almost the opposite. The song sits in a space that feels familiar to the meaning I found in the white stripe. It speaks to the reality that people often carry things quietly. Thoughts. Questions. Parts of themselves they haven’t fully shared yet. Not because those things aren’t real, but because sometimes understanding takes time and opening up can feel vulnerable.

There’s a line in that idea that I keep coming back to. We don’t always need to become fully finished versions of ourselves before we’re allowed to be seen. Sometimes connection starts before certainty. Sometimes growth begins when we stop treating self-discovery like a private test we’re supposed to pass on our own and instead allow ourselves to exist honestly, even while we’re still learning. To me, that’s what makes the white stripe feel so meaningful. It doesn’t demand conclusions. It doesn’t ask people to arrive at a final answer. It simply creates room. Room to question. Room to change. Room to become. Room to say something before everything feels complete.

For this image I kept the styling intentionally monochrome. I wore Deadwool’s Spade suit in white and paired it with a heavily modified version of FOXCITY’s Ascended backdrop. Rather than leaning into dramatic scenery, I wanted the clouds to feel soft and undefined. White first, clouds second. Clouds felt fitting for this concept because they never really stay still. We still point at them and try to describe what we see, but their shape shifts constantly depending on perspective, time, and light. Maybe people aren’t all that different.

Maybe some of the pressure to have everything figured out comes from forgetting that growth isn’t meant to stop. Maybe becoming isn’t something we finish. Maybe it’s something we keep doing. That feels like a fitting place to end this series. Not because every question has been answered. Not because every journey reaches the same destination. But because there should always be room for people to keep discovering who they are. When we’re ready, say so.

Credits for everything can be found below. Kudos again to Pride At Home for inspiring the this through the idea for the original six colors. It’s made me think on a lot of things and as you can see dive deeper into other colors of another flag. We’ll see about doing some more as the months go on, I think it’d be fun to see what I can do with all of the others, in time.

“If your light burns out and you’re in the dark
If you can’t pick up the pieces
If the world you trusted falls apart
If your heart’s run out of reasons
I’ll be there every time you call
Pick you up every time you fall
If you’re going through hell, you’re not alone
If you need somebody, say so”
Dan + Shay – Say So

Credits:

Head: LeLUTKA.Head.NOA.4.0 ~ Jaden Nova
Head Applier: VELOUR: OMAR Skin for Evo X ~ Kiria Mama
Hair: [MFCNT] THOR Bun – Grooming Hair – LeBarbier Alpha
Hairbase: LeLUTKA.EvoX.Hairbase.044 (BOM) ~ Jaden Nova (Comes with the LeLUTKA NOA Head)
Eyes: Avi-Glam. Delirium Eyes ~ Eye Daddy
Ears: ^^Swallow^^ Gauged S Ears ~ Luciayes Magic
Ear Tattoo: RichB. Ears Tattoo #08 ~ Salvy Hexem
Beard: [MFCNT] Ducky Skunk Beard & Stache – LeBarbier Alpha
Beard Layer: [MR] Jimmi Facial Hair for EvoX Heads Style 1 ~ Daniel Whiskers
Body: [LEGACY] Athletic Edition (1.7.1) ~ MeshBody Resident
Skin: VELOUR: PICASSO HOMME Skin for Legacy (FIT/TAN) Picasso Neck ~ Kiria Mama
Hand BOM: K.O.K.O.S SHOP – SEXI MAN HANDS-BOM ALL BODY. ~ Aleric Dallas
Nails: Pare.Cure Mesh Nails Both Hands [Short] – Legacy ~ Flazedo Resident

Suit Coat/Shirt: [Deadwool] Spade Suit Jacket ~ Masa Plympton
Pants: [Deadwool] Spade Suit Trousers ~ Masa Plympton
Halo: Umbra Aesthetics – Planet Ring Halo ~ Teodor Fang
Earrings: = DAE = SXD1 ~ Naomi Darkheart
Rings/Bracelets: *RE* Atreides Bracelet & Rings ~ Crashnoww Resident