Month: October 2019

It’s hard to believe that Shattering Stigmas has actually come to an end! This event has been incredible and I’m honored and grateful that Taylor chose me as a co-host.

So many amazing things happened over the last two weeks –

• conversations were started
• stories were shared for the first time
• people realized they weren’t alone
• advice was given and used
• stigmas were shattered

Welcome to the fifteenth day of Shattering Stigmas! Until October 22 I’ll be highlighting voices from the book community on mental health. I’m co-hosting this event with Taylor from Stay on the Page, Shannon from It Starts at Midnight, and Amber from YA Indulgences so make sure to check their blogs out each day to see different content.

Content Warnings: death of a pet

I’ve struggled with my mental health from a young age. I was diagnosed with ADHD in first grade and depression in early middle school and anxiety starting to show up towards the end of middle school. Back when I unquestioningly did as my mother told me, I did pretty well. I went to the doctor, took my meds – no real problems. But once I started hearing what people outside my family said about it, I started having my doubts about lots of things. Did I really have these issues? A lot of people were discussing the rampant misdiagnosis of mental health problems and saying that prescription drugs were being handed out like candy on Halloween. I heard the teachers and other parents say my anxiety was caused by my mother being a helicopter parent. My best friend’s mom accused my mother of getting me medicated so that I would excel in school – because clearly, my Ritalin was a performance enhancing drug.

I felt awful. I felt like a fake. Was I really sick? I started hiding my medication. Oh, I’d lie and tell my doctor and my family that I’d taken my medicine. Eventually, I’d break down and admit that I hadn’t taken my medication for months. I’d get back on my medication and the cycle would begin again.

Welcome to the fourteenth day of Shattering Stigmas! From now until October 22 I’ll be highlighting voices from the book community on mental health. I’m co-hosting this event with Taylor from Stay on the Page, Shannon from It Starts at Midnight, and Amber from YA Indulgences so make sure to check their blogs out each day to see different content.

I’ve been a young adult book blogger for almost 7 years now. I’ve struggled with my mental illness long before that though. My love for reading developed when it became my escape from my anxieties and the darkness that bloomed around the corners. Being an avid reader, book blogger and a writer have all given me outlets to express my love of books and work with people in the industry, community and interact with other readers in general. It brings some sunshine on those dark days and it lets me escape into a world where I am strong and fierce and I can ride a dragon. (The first two I constantly tell myself are true, the last one, I wish it was.)

Welcome to the thirteenth day of Shattering Stigmas! From now until October 22 I’ll be highlighting voices from the book community on mental health. I’m co-hosting this event with Taylor from Stay on the Page, Shannon from It Starts at Midnight, and Amber from YA Indulgences so make sure to check their blogs out each day to see different content.

Content Warnings: self-harm, anxiety, alcoholism, death by suicide

When I was a little kid, my uncle used to let me help him color in the black-and-white outlines of his cartoons. He was an artist, and had a side hustle selling greeting cards and art prints. My very favorite was a poster-sized piece called “Ted Revolutionizes the Toaster,” in which Ted, pictured at the bottom of the frame, envisions a behemoth of an invention, all cogs and pulleys and gears — and in the middle of it is a tiny toaster. Before I had the poster hanging in my house and could see it every day, it was always exciting for me to try to find the toaster amidst the chaos. I loved, too, trying to figure out how so much machinery could be powering such a seemingly simple toaster.