Sofia Martimianakis

Sofia completed her undergraduate degree in English Literature at the University of Toronto and her MA at the University of Waterloo. Her recent publications include Fiction in Cloudbank, nonfiction in the Rappahannock Review and Cleaning Up Glitter Magazine and poetry and photography in Chaleur Magazine and the Tiny Seed Literary Journal.

Response to creative prompt: "When I look in the mirror, I see..."

"All My Worlds Intersect" describes how I feel when I look in the mirror. I stare in the glass hoping I look stronger than I feel and trying to see the other parts of myself as described in "Journal of Record". It's my daily experience living with chronic invisible illnesses. I have IBS, GERD, anxiety disorder and have battled post-partum depression. Some days I feel faded from fatigue and when I see my reflection and note how my body has changed over the last few years, I struggle to feel like myself. I was once a strong and confident weight-lifter but years of battling invisible illnesses has left me living in a very different body. I've tried to express this in my second photography submission, "Faded". My final submission, "Stone Heart" attempts to show how living with an invisible illness takes its toll. Since becoming a mother, I strive to exhibit an energetic and positive version of myself. The protective shell that masks feelings of weakness and hopelessness brought on by years of living with invisible illnesses.