Cracked Open
David B Younger, When Pain WritesEvery week, I offer experiences to navigate living with a disability, relationships, and the impossible parts of life. Informed by 25 years as a psychologist and my own journey with chronic illness. Join me for honest perspectives on embracing equanimity.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 59 | Founded | a year ago | Last Issue | 8 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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davidbyounger.substack.comLatest Issues
The River Beneath My Anxiety
With the Sea, digital painting by Judith Alalu, 2026
For most of my life I didn’t think of myself as anxious. I was neurotic in my twenties, a caricature of myself, obsessing over things, afraid of flying, anxious in a room full of people....
Letting Go Isn't Something You Achieve
Hope in the Darkness, digital painting by Judith Alalu, 2023
I have been struggling a lot of late with the feeling that I can never just let go and relax.
Thinking about what it would feel like to let go is like imagining what it would fe...
The Monster Shame Creates
The following piece is a collaboration with Justina, a philosophy doctoral candidate whose writing explores disability, discrimination, and belonging. Together, we reflect on shame from our different perspectives and experiences, looking at...
The People Who Hold the Frame
Mesmerized by The Two Fridas at the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico City
I hadn’t traveled abroad in seven years. I hadn’t traveled at all for five, until last fall when we went to visit close friends in Seattle. I had written it off becaus...
The Invisible Disability Hierarchy That Keeps Us Divided
1000 Shadows, Herbert Baglione, Journal du Design, 2025
There’s an invisible hierarchy of disability that nobody admits exists, implicitly determining who gets sympathy, accommodations, and who has to fight just to be believed.
I’m a stra...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
I write about living with ongoing loss, chronic illness and shame without bypassing the real pain. Raw, honest insights into softening to what you cannot change.
Substack When Pain Writes. Drawing on literature, philosophy, and personal experience, this Substack explores what cannot be easily narrated.
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