Before I was struck with CRPS and chronic pain in my right hand/arm in early 2016, I did a lot of amateur nature photography. After that point, whenever I had a photo in an exhibition, I’d use my “Artist’s Statement” to raise awareness of chronic pain – and of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome because it’s a rare disease.
After a while, I realized that it had become frustrating to try to adjust my camera with the ‘wrong’ hand… I was trying to take photos of nature *the way I used to*, instead of adapting to my new reality. That frustration was taking away most of the pleasure – joy, even – that I used to get from just being out in nature.
So I gave away my camera, and decided to just take photos with my phone. Suddenly, I was having fun taking nature photos again! Once I stopped trying to do something ‘fun’ the way I did before my pain, it became fun again.
That was an important lesson for me, that having chronic pain often means that I shouldn’t try do things the way I used to. Instead, I needed to have an “attitude of adapting”, to find new ways of doing things that were important to me. And to keep doing things that make me happy, instead of just getting through the day. (But yeah, on really bad days I go back to just getting through – using all my pain self-management tools.)
Sooooo… why are there paintings in this post, not photos? Early last year, struggling with the isolation of not seeing friends and family in-person for too long – and still missing the day-to-day interactions of my past career in bioethics, I decided to take that ‘attitude of adapting’ even further. I’d always dreamed of learning to paint ‘someday’, with watercolours.
It had also been almost a year since my last in-person physiotherapy session, and I thought that learning to paint could be a good movement-therapy for my right hand and arm. And I’d noticed that many artists had suddenly created online courses, so I signed up for a few ZOOM watercolour painting classes.
These included a weekly free session on wildlife and nature painting with a group in England. And I absolutely fell in love with painting. Because I’d never picked up a paintbrush, I was able to adapt the techniques to my own hand/arm pain and joint-rigidity reality from the start.
That group of artists in England has been really helpful with this, as several of them have rheumatoid arthritis Another art group in the US includes several people with autoimmune disease, who’ve shared great tips on dealing with the same kind of full-body fatigue that I experience from CRPS. Not only have I fallen in love with painting, it has also put me in touch with many wonderful and helpful people I’d never have met.
And I still use my “Artist’s Statement” to raise awareness of chronic pain and of CRPS. These two of my paintings will be in an art exhibition in our city-centre or downtown area, which opens tonight, as a fundraiser for the historic Women’s Art Society of Montréal. (1)
If there’s anything that YOU have ever dreamed of doing, maybe you can find a way to try it – in some adapted way that works with your own chronic pain or chronic illness. A friend of mine, who has lower leg pain injuries, just took up his own lifelong dream – drumming. He found a music place that adapted a full drum set, so the foot pedals can be controlled with his knees. (He lives in a rural area house, so doesn’t have to worry about waking the neighbours when he feels like practicing at 0300!)
It took me about five years to realize that it’s better – for me – to stop trying to do things the way *I used to* before I began living with persistent pain. Each of us is different, and at different points in our lives and pain or patient journeys – so I’m sharing something that has been helpful for me.
As always, thanks so much for stopping by. Feel free to reach out over on Instagram or Twitter, because I’ve had to disable the Comments feature here on the blog. It became too much for me to handle, with my CRPS-related mild cognitive impairment. Have a good weekend!
Reference
Women’s Art Society of Montréal. Website. Undated. Accessed 06 May 2022. https://www.womensartsociety.com/