Launching My Book
This is my first-ever blog post. It has taken me a while to get to writing this post and getting my head around the idea of maintaining a blog, adding new posts on a regular basis. I kept thinking, what if I have nothing of any value to say? So, I did some research. I checked some wonderful blogs that are out there, both in the mental health department, and some more general ones. I found some great stuff which, I have to admit, was inspirational. So, here it is. Here I go, with my first entry.
I have written a book called Love and Theft: A Memoir of Mental Illness (read more about it here). My memoir chronicles my struggle with serious mental illness for much of my adult life. One of the major purposes of my book and this blog is to start conversations about the stigma surrounding mental illness that is so pervasive in our society today. Today, even depression and anxiety so often go unmentioned in personal conversations.
At this moment, sometime in mid-September, my website is being built by the immensely talented Katharine Bolin. Details of my book launch are being worked out. My friend Ellie and I will be doing all the uploading work for the manuscript at the end of the month. My book suddenly feels very real, not just a “someday I want to write…” wish. That someday is here!
So, yes, lots on the go right now. I am working closely with my psychiatrist, Dr. G., to keep watch over myself, to make sure that I don’t get “triggered” by any of the things that are happening. It would be really easy to see the old Jocelyn thrown off balance completely by the events I describe above. I would have found it hard to sleep, and my mind would have felt driven, unable to turn itself off. I would have felt the gaze of so many others on me, and that surely would have tripped a wire. I see an episode of psychosis, if I were triggered today (in this case, paranoia), or maybe summer mania, in the Jocelyn of before.
But a lot has changed. What was once unavoidable is now kept in check, with my Wednesday mornings at Dr. G. and the medicine that I use now to ward off anything untoward. With the feedback I get from my family and friends, and the work I put into my health and stability. Yes, kept in check, for the most part. I know anxiety will be high over the days to come, and that I will have to work at it. I believe the next weeks will be challenging, and that it will take a lot of strength to get through them, and that maybe episodes of illness will come yipping at my heels. But I am in control now, and I will just kick back...