January is a challenging month as it is. My sketchbook pages from one of the coldest times in Leipzig, spent in sub-zero temperatures.

Have a look into my January (and some of February) sketchbook pages. I had fun drawing a new animal: The Leech.

The romantic rush I usually experience in the winter season had cooled off somewhat during the long, dark month of January. I was deeply immersed in trying to understand myself and what I wanted from my relationships, while being sucked into a highly domestic life that felt more and more like a vortex of intense emotions.

Following a nervous breakdown over New Year’s, which was induced by – but not to blame on – a recreational drug, I experienced a week’s worth of the worst anxiety of my life. Feeling completely out of control, I was forced to make the decision to fix my mental health for good this time, but I had no idea how.