Denudate -

We spend the first half of our lives layering ourselves in "overburden": titles, possessions, carefully curated personas, and the thick foliage of ego. We believe these layers define us. Then, the erosion of time begins. Circumstance or age acts as the elements, washing away the superficial until we are denudated.

To be denudated is to be exposed, yes—but it is also to be authentic. When the "topsoil" of our vanity is gone, we find out what is actually capable of supporting weight. There is a terrifying beauty in a mountain peak that has been stripped of its trees; you can finally see the true shape of the stone. denudate

But there is a more intimate denudation that happens within us. We spend the first half of our lives

To is to witness the slow, inevitable peeling away of the world until only the skeleton remains. It is the verb of the desert, the glacier, and the aging soul. Circumstance or age acts as the elements, washing