My First Comic!

The invisible nail strikes again

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Individual panels:

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I had so much fun drawing this, and if you’re reading this it means that you enjoyed it too! I’ve started sketching while off on disability as, first and foremost, a past-time (disability is boring) and secondly as a way to help me process some tough thoughts and emotions.

A consistent frustration for me while trying to manage being in pain is having to describe the pain. Whether to physicians, friends, or family. It’s soooooo hard! This comic is helping me to describe what I like to call ‘Surprise, Pain!’- not as fun as ‘Surprise, Sex!’ (not in like a rapey way, more like a fun and spontaneous thing between two consenting adults) – this is pain that comes on seemingly at random, without warning, and is extremely painful. I’ve fallen many times from ‘Surprise, Pain!’ in my ankle. I chose to draw falling in snow rather than some of the places I’ve actually fallen. Like the time I fell while trail running on a downhill slope, skidding to a stop with a mouthful of soil. Or the time I was jogging back to my friend’s sailboat after using the public washroom, gifting the cement dock with some blood from my chin and returning to the boat looking like I’d fought off an attack.

The best way that I can explain the ‘Surprise, Pain!’ in my ankle is as if I’ve unknowingly stepped on a nail that’s pierced straight through from the bottom of my heel to the back of my foot. It sucks. Though I’ve come to learn how to have a laugh about it, thinking about how ridiculous I must appear to those around me who’ve witnessed a ‘Surprise, Pain!’ incident.

For those who have a hard time understanding invisible pain, remember: the nail is invisible, but the pain is real.