1) This helped me think about why I don’t identify with the term “survivor” in terms of trauma (even though I support anyone choosing to use it). I’m not washed up on a beach or pulled out of wreckage: I’m coping, processing, changing. This is my normal.
2) I recently called myself a “Guinea pig” as I’m trying some off-label medications for fatigue that are making me feel awful; a friend gently suggested “co-investigator” instead, which made me feel more empowered to own my experience and ask my doctors to rethink the meds.
3) I’m sure you’ve read it a million times, but Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor has tons on the warrior/battle metaphor and how it relates to broader socio-economic values around war.
4) I like your language shift from cutesy/battle-y to straightforward: “disabled,” “managing.” I’ve been thinking about alternative metaphors for living with illness that are not your typical “kingdom” (why does every recent chronic illness memoir have kingdom in the title?) or “war.” I love gardening and find helpful analogies in that practice for the multifaceted experience of disability/chronic illness. Pruning, composting, environment, failure, adapting, etc.
Ok, essay done. Thank you for such a thinky piece! Now for a rest.
Worth the spoons.
1) This helped me think about why I don’t identify with the term “survivor” in terms of trauma (even though I support anyone choosing to use it). I’m not washed up on a beach or pulled out of wreckage: I’m coping, processing, changing. This is my normal.
2) I recently called myself a “Guinea pig” as I’m trying some off-label medications for fatigue that are making me feel awful; a friend gently suggested “co-investigator” instead, which made me feel more empowered to own my experience and ask my doctors to rethink the meds.
3) I’m sure you’ve read it a million times, but Sontag’s Illness as Metaphor has tons on the warrior/battle metaphor and how it relates to broader socio-economic values around war.
4) I like your language shift from cutesy/battle-y to straightforward: “disabled,” “managing.” I’ve been thinking about alternative metaphors for living with illness that are not your typical “kingdom” (why does every recent chronic illness memoir have kingdom in the title?) or “war.” I love gardening and find helpful analogies in that practice for the multifaceted experience of disability/chronic illness. Pruning, composting, environment, failure, adapting, etc.
Ok, essay done. Thank you for such a thinky piece! Now for a rest.