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We as a culture have no rituals, no template, and truly no idea how to honor people’s experiences with chronic illness.
Too many healing journeys and milestones are overlooked, especially when chronic illness journeys are complicated and non-linear. I want to change that!
In our secular and disconnected age, I want to dream up new ways for people to make meaning (and maybe even some magic) in the aftermath of life’s most terrible blows.
I, like 1.5 million people in North America, have ulcerative colitis (UC). My ulcerative colitis means that my immune system attacks the lining of my colon and creates ulcers that bleed (yes it’s horrific).
At one point, my ulcerative colitis got so bad my gastroenterologist told me after my yearly colonoscopy that at any moment she might have to remove part of my colon.
A year later, after I did a deep dive into every facet of health and healing (biological, emotional, spiritual, etc), my gastroenterologist told me that I no longer had any active ulcerative colitis, although my colon did look like a forest fire had happened inside me even though nothing was actively on fire anymore.
And I just recently found out that my colon looks completely healthy—no forest fire anywhere!
Through a combination of luck, hard work, and privilege, I’ve gone from incredibly sick and in pain to full remission of my ulcerative colitis (to which there is no cure).
I wanted to celebrate my journey to this milestone and throw a tongue-in-cheek event to release the shame I’d been carrying about having a chronic illness that impacts your ability to control your bowels.
As an experience designer and trauma-informed life coach, I thought this milestone called for something the world had never seen before…a colon party!
I’ve spent the past 10 years architecting experiences that summon “aha moments” by helping people to tap into their own wisdom and internalize important life lessons. Through the colon party, I wanted to rewrite and reclaim my narrative around living with chronic illness and be witnessed by my friends and family.
While the colon party was a one-off, one-of-a-kind experience, I invite you to relive it with me! Check out my essay here.
If you have any questions or ideas about how to get the colon party’s message out into the world, please don’t hesitate to reach out and email me. Let me know if you’d like to throw a colon party or chronic illness milestone celebration of your own!
♡ Devin
P.S. One of my creative heroes, Priya Parker, featured the colon party in her newsletter and in an instagram post as an example of how ceremony can shift taboos! 🎉
The Walk-Through of the Colon Party! ⬇️
The Entry to the Colon Party
At the entrance to the apartment, my 51 guests were greeted by a “gastroenterologist” (my boyfriend in a white coat) who welcomed them to my annual “colonoscopy.”
“Hi I’m Devin’s gastroenterologist Dr. Bottom-man. Welcome to Devin’s annual colonoscopy!
Devin’s colon is quite the star. I’ve done a lot of photoshoots with her over the years. Thank you for coming to honor her.
For reference, you are right here, right at the cecum that connects Devin’s small intestine to Devin’s colon.
In a moment, I will invite you to take off your shoes and bow down and say ‘I honor you diva colon,’ and then crawl through Devin’s colon to enter the party.”
Each guest was invited to bow down and say “I honor you diva colon” and then crawl through Devin’s “colon” (a 12-foot tunnel) to enter the party.
When guests came out the other end of the colon tunnel, they were greeted by another friend in a poop hat who told them “You’re the shit! 💩” and invited them into the party.
Immersive Experiences at the Colon Party
Inside the party, all kinds of ridiculous immersive colon-centric activities took place with the help of this amazing crew of friends.
Guests bedazzled a new toilet seat for me.
One friend was the “Chocolate Mousse Dispenser”! 💩
Another friend colored portraits of people’s colons.
There was colon-themed truth or dare to inspire friends who didn’t know one another to connect.
Guests added Play-Doh turds to the Drop a Deuce Sculpture exhibit.
Guests answered colon-themed trivia to win a bidet generously donated by Tushy!
There was even a contest to see who could correctly draw a colon on various celebrities.
Guests bumped colons under the colon “mistletoe.”
Guests:
☑️ Took a poop personality test
☑️ Shared how to say poop in different languages
☑️ Added pooping euphemisms to a running list
☑️ And measured if they were longer than a colon
I even organized poop sticker “tarot” readings.
Guests could ask the gold butt purse a question, rub it 3 times, and pull out a poop sticker that was interpreted by an “expert.”
And no colon party is complete without a disco throne room.
The Ritual
All the fun and games culminated in me climbing up on the bed “stage” and leading a special group ritual.
I gave a moving speech about my healing journey with my diva colon.
My colon is a glorious diva—the embodiment of "too much." She requires an exacting diet, loves long hospital stays, and has made me jump in the air with pain when she wanted my attention.
She has been immovable in her assertion of her inherent right to the proper accommodations. I’ve had to redesign every aspect of my life—how I eat, sleep, where I live, how I move my body, how I manage stress, my boundaries, all to meet her exacting needs. And honestly I’m better for it. I am the most intellectually, emotionally, creatively, and spiritually satisfied I’ve ever been in my life.
I decided to honor her at this party by being “the most”—the most open, the most creative, the most ridiculous. (So ridiculous that I even convinced Braintree, the maker of the colonoscopy prep drug, Suflave, to help sponsor the party).
You can find the full speech here.
Throwing this party was an opportunity for me to let go of shame, so I invited my guests to do the same and write down something they wanted to let go of on a piece of toilet paper.
I blasted a dance remix of Let It Go and everyone dramatically “flushed” their wad down the toilet they had bedazzled for me!
And then we all danced! Starting with Jon Batiste’s song, Freedom:
🎶 “When I move my body just like this, I don't know why but I feel like FREEDOM!” 🎶
