How To Totally, Amazingly Thrive When You're Living With Mental Illness

This post is brought to you by kind, beautiful words, lipstick on teacups, the letter m, and Esme Wang.

When you happen upon Esme Wang's blog your first thought will inevitably be "these words feel right and true." Your second thought will probably be "Wow. Girl's got some writing chops. This right here? This is some capital W Writing."
Esme is a real, proper, actual writer. Like, Yale and Stanford and literary-agent writer. And her blog posts are so beautifully, wonderfully written I want to print them out and read them on a patio somewhere.
An excerpt from Living With Mental Illness, And The Choice Not To Have Children:
Once, I did want biological children. And then, hours after pausing in front of a children’s clothing store in San Jose, California, I did not. I’d watched women purchase tiny peacoats and miniature blouses with peter pan collars, with my own shopping bags hanging at my sides. Later I called my then-boyfriend, now husband, and said, “I was at Gymboree, and I thought of you.” Though he’d spoken several times of wanting to have children with me, this was the first time that I had, however vaguely, returned the sentiment.

He was quiet. “I talked to my mom,” he said.
I didn’t understand.
“She said that mental illness is genetic.”
“Oh. Never mind, then,” I said. “Forget I said anything. I didn’t mean it.”

In addition to being an amazing writer (here are her favorite books about writing you've probably never heard of), a good friend, and a great wearer of lipstick, Esme was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. She writes about living a good, fulfilling, love-stuffed life in her new book Light Gets In. And if you've ever struggled with a mental health issue or loved someone who has (which is probably all of us) you owe it to yourself to read it.

You can follow Esme (and her important, perfectly chosen words) on Twitter or Instagram.

I do one sponsored post each month. Would you like a post devoted to your work? Check out my rates and traffic info here or drop me a line at sarah (at) yesandyes (dot) org.