WELLBEING AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Chris Laracy
In the best possible way, I never could have anticipated writing this story. Then again, I never could have imagined the myriad of challenges and unexpected hurdles that would come my way after I turned 17. Life has a way of throwing curveballs when you least expect it. I’m not going to sugarcoat my past or claim I was a wildly happy teenager before getting sick—because I wasn’t—but I also couldn’t have been prepared for the dramatic and overwhelming challenges I would face over the next decade.
Looking back, it would have been nice to know that those teenage years, which I wasn’t particularly grateful for at the time, would ultimately be the best and easiest I’d experience until well into my 30s. Growing up, I was immersed in the world of sports. Athletics and competition were everything to me; they defined who I was. So when the psoriatic arthritis began to set in, I fought against it with the most immature and stubborn approach possible—by increasing my physical activity, as if sheer willpower could undo the damage. I treated each issue as it arose, often relying on injections and medications to push through the pain.
Unfortunately, this approach slowly broke me, leading to nearly a dozen surgeries before I even turned 25. Now, nearly fifteen years later, my incredible team of doctors and I finally discovered a combination of medications that—despite their nearly insurmountable cost, an astounding quarter of a million dollars a year—had a significant and lasting impact on my health. These treatments allowed me to reclaim some semblance of a normal life. Though I remained sick, the improvement was enough to let me participate in life again, and for that, I was deeply grateful. With my conveniently applicable biochemistry degree, I decided to give back in the best way I could. I began working to manufacture the very medications that helped heal me—injectable biologics.
For me, it felt like a full-circle moment, a way to contribute to the community of heroes who had restored my ability to live. Yet burnout hits much faster when you’re sick, and I learned that the hard way. One exhausting day, after an 18-hour manufacturing shift, my boss ridiculed me for seeming weak. That moment, combined with my health limitations, pushed me to quit on the spot. I realized that life is simply too short to live in suffering, working under conditions that drain your spirit and health.
Time—our precious, fleeting time—should be spent pursuing joy and fulfillment. It was then that I discovered photography, specifically wildlife photography. Almost immediately, my life began to transform. Without any changes to my medications, my health improved dramatically. Spending up to eight hours a day in the beauty of nature had a profound and unexpected healing effect. It felt as though my medications were suddenly supercharged, giving me a second chance to enjoy life in a way I hadn’t thought possible. I was simply floored by how much nature and photography contributed to my healing journey. For the first time in years, I was genuinely happy. That’s why I’m here, sharing this message with anyone willing to listen.
As a lifelong skeptic and scientist, I was the type who needed peer-reviewed sources to support any claim. Yet I’ve discovered one of the most powerful medicines isn’t found in a lab but in the gifts provided by nature itself. For over 200,000 years, our ancestors evolved in harmony with nature. It nourished them, shaped their survival, and provided countless benefits we can’t fully quantify. I implore you, dear reader, to take just a small amount of time—an hour, a day—to immerse yourself in the natural world. Feel the fresh air, hear the rustle of leaves, and watch the subtle wonders around you. I promise you this: you will return feeling better, lighter, and more alive than when you set out.
This article first appeared in PRISMA, Issue 21.