The Colors We Keep Hidden

I was walking through the park this morning when I saw a man arguing with a stranger over a parking spot. His face turned a deep, blotchy red, and his posture shifted from relaxed to rigid in a heartbeat. It was startling to see how quickly his entire demeanor changed, as if a switch had been flipped inside him. We spend so much of our lives trying to appear calm, steady, and predictable to the people around us. We hold our breath and keep our edges soft. But underneath that carefully maintained surface, there is often a wilder, more reactive version of ourselves waiting for the right moment to emerge. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing to show our true colors, even if they are sharp or unexpected. Perhaps it is just the truth of being alive—that we are all capable of a sudden, vibrant transformation when the world pushes back against us. Do you ever feel like you are hiding a different version of yourself just beneath your skin?

Nazmul Shanji has captured this exact feeling of sudden, raw transformation in his image titled Changeable Lizard. It is a striking reminder of how nature reveals its true self when it feels challenged. What do you think this creature is trying to tell us?