Neck (Comic #714)

This is the start of a comic series that’s about some severe neck pain I experienced last year. I’ve been hesitant to share it. It’s not as cheerful as many Things comics, but it has a good story arch, eventually! Self-care can be tricky sometimes if you’re prone to hyperfocus. The little things like heat pack, tiger balm, or taking small breaks to stretch while using a computer. These are such crunchy and meaningful acts of self-care, they don’t take a lot of money or time, but the emotional load to be present enough to do that can be tricky sometimes!

I’ve been uncomfortable talking about certain kinds of pain, which is interesting, given the Things are often at their best when touching on places of discomfort… but normally there is an uplifting or kind resolution in within a single experience. Little Liz is telling stories in a slightly longer form. It’s a bit vulnerable and uncomfortable, but that is the way of art sometimes! I hope you enjoy spending more time with the Liz.

Thanks to all my patrons and a special big extra thanks to Kate Webb, Erik Owomoyela, Sandra M. Odell and Stuart Barrow.

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Neck Comic Transcript

Little Liz is standing by herself.

Liz: My doctor told me

To put a post it on my computer that says heatpack, tiger balm, stop to breathe.

Just because I can live with a pain doesn’t mean I should just ignore it.

Liz stands in silence looking awkward for a moment.

Liz: So I drew a comic about it. That’s basically the same, yeah?

My neck says no.

2 thoughts on “Neck (Comic #714)

  1. …yeah nothing like an acute injury to make you re-evaluate how you do things. Self-care is hard to learn when you haven’t needed to do it before. I busted some ribs as a teenager but somehow got through it… my first big wake-up in adulthood was I separated a shoulder botching a breakfall in Aikido, then I’ve had a couple bouts of sciatica, at least one of which resulted from a spinal injury I never even knew I had till after the MRI… so you learn new ways to do things, add new habits like stretching and heat packs, and you learn to recognize your limits before you’ve gone past them…

    1. So very true. I’m sorry about that pain, and I hope the bit of knowledge about your spinal injury helps with the self care

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