None of Us Are Villages: Intersections of Mental and Physical Health

By Madeleine Gibbons-Shapiro 

Hello everyone! I want to share a little about my inspiration for creating this video. The intersection of mental and physical health in my own life has been salient for my whole life and has been on my mind a lot recently. Since I was eight years old, I have suffered from debilitating migraines that are directly correlated with the amount of sleep I get, the consistency and balance of the meals I eat, and the effectiveness with which I mitigate my stress levels. This has forced me, for better or for worse, to exercise immense control over my daily schedule, exacerbating a tendency I already have to plan and anticipate as much as I can about my life. I try my best to regulate my physical and mental states so as to prevent myself from experiencing overwhelmingly painful headaches that can last for days at a time. I have seen the ways in which this has benefited my life in college especially: I am extra motivated to get to bed on time for an eight-hour sleep, to eat healthy meals regularly, to monitor my caffeine intake, to manage my time so that I don’t get overly stressed about my coursework. Some days, however, even my most thorough efforts to prevent a migraine are in vain: if I so choose to indulge in the parts of my life that cause boost my mental state, like staying up late chatting with my friends or indulging in a late afternoon oat milk mocha (yay lactose intolerance) or putting off a paper to watch a movie instead, are met with severe pain the next day. 

While I am very much exploring how my mind and body interact with each other, I can say one thing for certain: I am fragile. Although I tend to avoid sweeping generalizations, I think I can confidently say that everyone experiences ways in which their mental health affects their physical health, and vice versa. Creating this project has taught me that, as one interviewee, Patrick Walsh, so eloquently put: none of us are villages. For me, part of working toward a world that is less ableist and more inclusive is to keep talking about the times we are feeling our worst, as well as the times we are feeling most healthy. We must continue to remind ourselves that these spectrums of health are a central part of our human experience and that we can find solidarity and strength in our shared stories.