I Did Something Stupid When I was a Teenager

First Nations, Metis, and Inuit ways of knowing have always drawn knowledge from the land and the internal realms of self or feeling to guide and heal. Teenage self-harm and turmoil resulting from the generational trauma of colonialism serve as a reflexive case study for understanding how Anishinaabe ideologies around land-based well-being are applicable in the instances following an overdose. This project is an interpretive phenomenological analysis of a reflexive recount of the author’s overdose as an urban Anishinaabe teenager. Utilizing First Nation’s theories and teachings on land-based wellbeing as a framework, this text unpacks the unexplained events of an overdose with Anishinaabe worldviews in mind. Storytelling techniques such as self and situational reflection are used to communicate data (the experience) in a creative way unconventional to colonial research structures, and better aligned with the author’s ancestral practices. This is a creative project in self-reflection, trauma exploration through Indigenous frameworks, and communication removed from colonial conventions. This project serves as illuminating towards urban Indigenous challenges which acts as a case for understanding Anishinaabe knowledge of self thrivance.