Jenny Brownlees is a freelance fashion journalist and stylist. She has ME, and went through a lot of tough times to get where she is now. One thing she found helped her was to follow her creative heart. Here she talks about her experiences.
I was 16 when I became unwell. Enjoying life and school, becoming unwell in my teenage years hit me hard. I was very creative both in and outside of school. Happiest in art and textiles classes when doodling, making a mess, sewing, designing, I was obsessed with ‘making’ in all its forms. I loved every aspect of fashion and art. It meant so much to me, and was a huge part of my personal identity.
In the years that followed me falling unwell, I dealt with an ‘invisible illness’, many misdiagnosis’, followed by an 18 month wait for the right diagnosis that was filled with anxiety, panic attacks and depression, as well as feeling so poorly that I can’t even begin to put it into words.
