The Love Life Of A Chameleon - Belinda Tobin

Embark on a brutal yet beautiful journey of self-discovery.

Nora is a capable, proud, professional woman standing on her own two feet and climbing towards the position of partner within a consultancy firm. She is also now a patient in a psych ward, pulled apart by her longing for love but her inability to accept it. Nora has two great fears: being alone and facing the reality that her life is a facade. Now, she is being forced to confront both.

In this brutal yet beautiful tale, we live with Nora as she works through the consequences of her childhood experiences and the expansive sequence of self-destructive choices. We listen as she learns how she has used her sexuality as a tool to conquer, control and avoid true connection. We witness her understanding of how the environments she has endured have left her with many scars, some seen, some buried beneath layers of lies.

Yet Nora yearns to live fully and freely. The treatment she undertakes in the hospital is heavy and culminates in many crises, but it also breaks open her heart to let the light in. Through her art therapy assignments, she explores colours, their energy, and the excitement they bring. As she sketches, paints, reflects and creates, she realises how much her past environments have shaped her. She also begins to sense the power she has to make a place where she can be safe and shine. However, much work is needed to unravel the tendrils that have kept her trapped.

Through Nora's story, we get to reflect on the rainbow of our lives, each colour calling us to appreciate the conflict between fitting in and finding oneself, knowing who you are and who you are not, and the tussle between convenient deceit and deep truth. As Nora charts and celebrates her complexity, we are also guided to gain a sense of self-compassion for our own challenges and to find the courage to create a home for ourselves where there is honesty, health, happiness and hope.