A New Undertaking...

So this morning I had this idea hit me. It's actually something I had given some thought to before but I was really struck with the desire to make it happen.

I want to write a book. A book of interviews with people who have struggled with mental illness, self injury, eating disorders, suicide attempts. People who live with those things and lived through those things and are survivors. Who are not only alive but thriving. Who are following their dreams.

There are a handful of celebrities I want to try to get in touch with to see if they would be willing to talk to me. I also want to talk to "normal" people. To friends I have who are doing amazing things. To people in all walks of life, of all ages who struggle, who know pain. But who survive. Because I know for me that knowing that I am not alone has been one of the most powerful things in my life. Having friends and people I can look up to who have lived through the same horrific hurts as I have lets me know that I am not the only one. That it is possible to live through those things and come out on the other side. To do amazing things with your life. To even use that pain.

I wish that I had actually known people who were fighting the same demons at a younger age, that I had had a community to help support me. But what did help was reading books, and seeing art created by others who had gone through those hard times. Books like "Prozac Nation" by Elizabeth Wurtsel, and "Girl, Interrupted" by Susanna Kaysen. Hearing the music of Emilie Autumn, Kerli and Fiona Apple, seeing famous people step up and admit to mental illness, to eating disorders, to self injury, to having been sexually abused. Those stories, those words, those songs. That all helped an immense amount. Knowing that it is possible to go through hell and come out on the other side is one of the most empowering things for a young person to hear. For any person who struggles to hear.

I want to find a way to make that happen. To create just another place for people to find that. It isn't a terribly original idea. It's been done. But it is something IMPORTANT. It is something I can do. And I'm asking for your help.

If you are someone who would personally be willing to be interviewed. If you know someone who you think would be interested in taking part in this. If you have suggestions of people I should try to get in touch with. If you have specific issues you would like me to try to address. If you have anything to say at all! Let me know.

All my love,
Muse