My Narrative
In my practice, I work with the narrative of chronic illness, grief, loss, and mental illness. As a chronically ill person, the media has bombarded us with quick fixes to our illnesses such as getting a better diet or some easy supplement to take that is sure to cure our ailments. These things can be incredibly misleading. They often take advantage of chronically ill people and their vulnerable state. Wanting to find a cure to your illness and grasping at every straw to get there is mentally draining and very isolating. In my work, I want to show the vulnerable sides of chronic illness, the things people aren’t willing to show or talk about. Illness is incredibly isolating and very personal, these things are often pushed under the rug and not spoken about. A common narrative I work with is thankfulness and abundance in death. Death, for a chronically ill person, is the only true escape into a painless existence. We are taught that death is scary and something we should run from, but for me and many others death is a true comfort. Death is a very taboo subject and one that’s not talked about in a real vulnerable way. I hope to change that by speaking about it more in my practice. Another narrative I often work with is the connection between mental and physical health and how they reflect and relate to each other. Being chronically ill is very difficult and mentally draining, many people when covering chronic illness don’t talk about the overwhelming overlap between physical and mental health that goes on with these illnesses. With this I hope to spread awareness about mental health issues relating to chronic illness and to show people that illness doesn’t just destroy you physically but it also destroys you mentally. These things are important to talk about and share with people who don’t know the effects of chronic illness and what these people are up against. In my work I hope to bring awareness about chronic illness and further educate people on the twists and turns we face. By bringing a personal, human perspective to an often contentious topic, I am using my own understanding and personal experience being chronically ill to educate people and help further people's understandings. Spreading awareness about chronic illness can help people with invisible disabilities get better access to care and be treated fairly in public places reducing stigma and discriminatory actions. With my efforts, this will make for a better, kinder society to exist in where people have a broad and personal understanding of chronic illness.