Exploring chronic pain: Georgia Mill and ‘A Fluorescent Feeling’

Talking about pain can be painful, no?

Often, it’s too easy to avoid chatting about it altogether. She’ll be right, toughen up, no worries, get on with it and all that other bullshit we’re trained to say.

But what about the three million Australians who live with chronic pain? These folk don’t have a choice to avoid the ongoing feelings, treatments, and, of course, discussions.

I see a lot of ads for pain relief but not many about pain management. This might be because pain is way more complex and varied than we give it credit for. Sure, being in pain can be lonely, boring, and frustrating. But it can also be a whole lot more, if we look.

These are the sorts of conversations Georgia Mill is exploring in ‘A Fluorescent Feeling’, an essential new podcast about chronic pain,

“Chronic pain is very isolating, especially if you can’t fix it. Because that’s what you’re told, ‘it’s a problem and you need to fix it’, but if you can’t, you’ve got to live with it and there’s not as many resources,” Georgia said.

The project, which started out as a book, introduces listeners to people with lived experiences of pain, illness and disability. It features interviews with artists from various backgrounds. It’s an unsurprising direction, considering the challenges and subjectivity of communicating pain.

“A lot of being in pain can be disempowering so, when you own it — and how you’re expressing it — it can be empowering,” says Georgia.

Along with Georgia, the podcast is produced with the safe hands of Beth Atkinson-Quinton and sonic maven, Michelle Macklem. It’s presented by Broadwave: a curated network of Australian podcasts that tell community driven stories.

All three episodes are out now.