‘Never Fear Your Mother’ a Self Portrait by the Film Collage Artist
When your life comes crashing down around you because of an illness you pick up in nature... a very common reaction is to never want to go out in nature again. The PTSD is real.
For a long time this was me. I was “Lyme girl”. Everyone who went in nature should be tested for Lyme, immediately. I was afraid to go for walks.. even in the city. I stopped photographing on location. I wouldn’t walk under trees, in the grass, or even on the beach. I completely feared the outdoors... for years!!
Fear is no way to live. TRUTH TIME?!....It wasn’t Lyme Disease that caused my life to come crashing down! It was.... ME!
Yes I was infected by a tick... but that illness was spread by extremely poor choices on my part. The magnitude of this issue was my fault and not nature’s.
Not sleeping, partying my butt off, party drinking multiple nights a week, taking on too many units, not managing my stress, eating like a poor college kid who was just left home alone with sweets, did.... (I used to eat frosting out of the containers as snacks. Raw cookie dough too.... I know 😩) I lived a life with zero regard for basic proper nutrition. I was also a NCAA athlete and thought that was making me healthy. 🤦♀️
Nature has done nothing but help heal me. Sometimes shit just happens and it’s our job to find the message to rise above the circumstances we are challenged with.