To Exist is To Flare: May-Day
Mayday is the global call sign for distress. May_Day is International Workers Day to honor the struggles and gains made by workers and the labor movement. On the same day, kind folks leave anonymous baskets of flowers on doorsteps, farmers plant turnips, flowers are woven into leis, and people go barefoot to welcome in the new season.
Gather with us to pause and, �stop to smell the roses� [wink] as we recognize/rage/grieve/conjure the changing seasons: making space for the distress signals from our bodies while also honoring the enduring labor required to care for our chronically ill minds and bodies.
Mayday is the global call sign for distress. May_Day is International Workers Day to honor the struggles and gains made by workers and the labor movement. On the same day, kind folks leave anonymous baskets of flowers on doorsteps, farmers plant turnips, flowers are woven into leis, and people go barefoot to welcome in the new season.
Gather with us to pause and, �stop to smell the roses� [wink] as we recognize/rage/grieve/conjure the changing seasons: making space for the distress signals from our bodies while also honoring the enduring labor required to care for our chronically ill minds and bodies.
Western culture tries to teach us that illnesses have cures. We hunt for antidotes and fix-alls. Yet, those of us with chronic illnesses—in our bodies and minds—persist in the slog of hit-n-miss treatment and diagnoses in-between “flare-up” and “remission.” There’s the isolation. There are. All. The. Costs. We’re even gaslit by healthcare professionals when we self-advocate, judged by those who do not/cannot see our inconvenient, uncommon, or invisible illnesses. Our stories are messy, inflamed, transcendent, mundane, stunning.
How do we love our own sick bodies and minds when so often, we are not loved well?
We need to decolonize the industrial, capitalistic, ableist reactions to the liminalities of sickness, suffering, treatment and wellness to love our true selves better.
This virtual “sick bay” is for chronically ill people of mind and body. Together, we will resist band-aid, results-driven ways of loving ourselves. We will:
*ponder and play through somatic portals
*practice sick-informed “love languages” beyond ‘toxic positivity’ (e.g. dispense laughter, tears, and tender touch as medicine)
*honor the divergent, brilliant ways our sick bodies and minds hold and tell story
*share and listen to our wonderings, woundings, and epiphanies. NOT medical advice!
In this same spirit, we encourage you to join the meeting however you can. We recognize that how we are able to ‘show up’ changes constantly, hour by hour. Come as you are. We got your back (unless it hurts too much to touch).
Cost: $100
