Under Pressure

I was honoured today to receive my contributor's copy of Winter 2021 Open Minds Quarterly: Explorations of life in a mad world.

The topic of this issue is "Dreams." It is a big topic that could have been explored in many different ways. Daydreams. Lucid dreams. Hopes and dreams...the list goes on.

My submission, "Under Pressure," was submitted to acknowledge the amount of hard work that is required to achieve a dream. I also created it to acknowledge those living with chronic illness(es), both visible and invisible, which can create great obstacles in the fulfillment of a dream.

The image is a self-portrait in ink that was drawn after a migraine attack. I have a lot of ambitions for life and am willing to put in the hard work to achieve them. I make plans, I network, I schedule...however the best-laid plans can be thrown out the window when your body decides to go on strike. It is easy to be discouraged when the plans of your healthy self are sabotaged by your sick self.

I am fortunate in that, through many years of self-observation and trial-and-error, I have found ways to avoid chronic headaches and migraines. I know which foods to avoid, ways to keep my body balanced and how to best self-care to quickly bounce back if a migraine attacks; which I am glad to say are far and few in between these days.

People fascinate me. I am fascinated by their stories, their thoughts and their experiences. Open Minds Quarterly is unique and interesting in that it brings together diverse voices to discuss the important (but too often overlooked or dismissed) topics around mental health, madness and neurodivergence. We are all so deliciously different and reading through this magazine brings awareness to and sparks curiosity about these differences. I believe strongly that education and awareness are the best building-blocks for empathy and understanding. The world could definitely use more of that.