Quarantine has taken a toll on many of our mental health. We dug through our archives for some reading and crafts that we hope help you feel a little less alone. Stay well and take care, everyone <3
Print Heals
Women and trans zinesters challenge the mental health status quo. Check out what they’re up to and our handy-dandy guide to zines on various mental health topics.
In 2009, Dani Abram, an animator and comics creator from the UK, began getting stomach pains. She changed her diet, but the pain got worse and so did the feeling that something was very wrong. At work, she became a perfectionist and in the bath, she scratched her skin raw. Then one day she bolted from a grocery store, convinced she was about to make a scene. Soon Abrams saw her doctor, who recommended she begin keeping a diary. That diary would eventually lead her to create Worry Wart, a comic about living with generalized anxiety disorder.
Zine: ‘So You’re Anxious As Fuck’
As someone who suffers from anxiety, developing healthy coping mechanisms and a self-care routine is crucial to make it through the day. During my search for mental health resources, I have found that they often feel too clinical and impersonal for my needs. What I find so incredibly refreshing about the second edition of So You’re Anxious as Fuck by Zine Awards Litzine Winner Sonali Menezes is how honest and homegrown it is in its approach to creating a guide to navigating anxiety. Menezes’ advice is as reassuring as it is serious, “You are complex and full of contradictions. You can love life [and] also think about suicide. Thoughts of suicide do not make you a bad person.”
Papercraft: Triple Loop Paper Ball
Do it with friends or family in person or get your cat to help you out! This comes with an origin story, instructions, and a printable cutout template.
Comic: The Purpose
In this comic, a deeply depressed character tries to heal herself through extreme self-isolation. Questions of whether mental health is the responsibility of the individual or the community are raised. How do we get better when the world around us continues to sink?
Invitation: ‘ANXIETY -sOCIAL’
A delightful invitation to the a n x i e t y s o c i a l:
[ [ / in the d a r k e s t , h a r s h e s t m o n t h s, a smattering of queerdos
saw the need for a semi-social gathering f r e e o f e x p e c t a t i o n s a n d f u l l o f w a r m t h . / ] ]
Zine: All In Your Head
Anyone who is disabled, neurodivergent, and queer is in for an incredibly healing read with All in Your Head. The various contributors write from the vantage point of these identities on the theme of queer futures. They imagine where they see themselves going, what they wish to see in the future, and how they want to move forward individually and collectively. The reclamation of the self is a recurring focus, that key process of coming to terms with who you are if you’ve ever been affected by mental health or physical disabilities.