Is addiction the unspoken side effect of chronic illness?
I have enough drugs in my house to kill me. Probably three or four times over. And that’s ‘normal.’ That’s just how it is.
Category Archives: About illness
Pain is the doorway
‘Pain is a form of alertness and particularity; pain is a way in.’
Ask Me About My Uterus
Abby Norman was never going to have a ‘normal’ life, no matter how much she may have wanted one. And she really, really did.
2018 retro(/intro)(/per)spective
My immediate response when I try to search the Mines of Moria of my memory is usually a 404 error, and trying to think about the whole past year crashed Continue Reading →
‘Manic Depression on a mixtape’
‘Take your pills. Don’t take your pills. Read this self-help book. Call her emotional. Put Manic Depression on a mixtape and give it to her for Christmas.’
Give me back my anxiety chair!
Working my way through the impressive and throat-gripping essays in new anxiety anthology Headlands, I’m struck by two things. How unique each story is – and how each one is Continue Reading →
The ultimate importance of kindness
A few days ago I attended a funeral. I’ve been trying for weeks to write something about kindness and why it matters. Everything seems trite, not enough, or like it Continue Reading →
Robots, writing and revolution
“I don’t see the point in writing about something that doesn’t really excite you; that doesn’t get right down into the base of your spine.” – Helen Heath
You are going to die with unread emails
At first glance, this might sound like a horrible threat. But since the moment I heard it, it’s become a comforting mantra.
Turn the system the right way up
This week I went to a public forum hosted by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group, the panel appointed to advise the government on creating a fair welfare system.