Hi, I’m Milly.
I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when I was nineteen. After being told over and over again that I needed to focus on managing my symptoms because my debilitating, chronic mental illness was never going to get better, I decided to take matters into my own hands and carve out for myself a place in the world where my focus could be on living the full and abundant life that Jesus promised I could have. The solution that the public mental health system offered me revolved around fighting my own mind for control, and my solution pivots on accepting that my brain is different, and maybe that’s not so bad.
I consider myself happy and successful. And I want to show the world that those of us with severe mental health issues don’t have to settle for a second-rate, getting-by kind of life.
So this site is me, carving out a bit of space on the internet to share that picture. My success won’t look like yours, but it is my hope that telling my story will free others to tell theirs. My life has been often ugly and sometimes tragic, as many of yours have been. You are not alone. And you are not abandoned. You do not have to settle for anything. You can define and achieve happiness and success for yourself, just like I have.
What you will find here:
Blog posts. I’m not going to force myself to pick a theme here. I’m just writing about my life. It’s my website and I’ll do what I want, even if the SEO gods punish me. Topics are likely to include:
- living with schizophrenia
- art
- life with mental illness and kids
- parenting a hard-of-hearing kiddo and learning American Sign Language
- whatever writing or editing I’m working on
- fitting art and writing into this very full life of mine, and
- the ways that I take care of myself while doing that.
Occasionally, I will write a support post, where I bring attention to an author, artist, business, cause, or company that I think is doing something good, or deserves support of some kind. On these days, we’ll look outside ourselves and really focus on what we can do for someone else. Every post will include a link to buy someone’s book or art or donate to their mission.
My Art, Writing, and potentially, bits where I reveal my process. I will rarely give advice, since I consider myself a beginning artist. I’m claiming it anyway, and if you find something useful, great. I’ll keep a running list of publications and whatnot as well.
Resource links. There’s a lot I’m not doing here, or that someone else has already done better. I’ll have links available to crisis resources, as well as research. On the art and writing front, I’ll link to some of my sources of inspiration.
What you won’t find here:
- how-to articles
- intentionally actionable content
- writing advice
For writing advice, visit Filles Vertes Publishing, where I work as an acquisitions editor. You may even find an article or two by me there.
And of course, please ask me anything! If you’re looking for freelance editing, I’m occasionally available, and when I’m not, I always know where to send you!
Thanks for stopping by!
