Brigid and team very kindly gifted me a copy of her wonderful book for review. Although I have not yet finished it, I have found it very inspiring and such an important read. Here’s what Brigid and her publisher have to say:
Brigid Sheehan didn’t receive her bipolar diagnosis until early adulthood but, looking back, she realises how the condition may have affected her in so many pivotal moments. By writing this memoir and sharing her highs and lows, she hopes that her journey into the past will help others in the same position – and show them that they, too, can live full lives in spite of their bipolar diagnoses.
Brigid says, “I have chosen to tell the story of my lifelong experience as a bipolar sufferer because I think another person’s lived experience can help access knowledge, although no two situations are the same… Bipolar has not become a friend, but I have simply got to know it better and found the means to cope.”
Living with bipolar is never easy and Brigid documents the many highs and lows and how she lives with it.
Yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day. This awareness day is so important as the rate of suicides in the UK and globally is increasing. About 10 years ago, I devastatingly lost a family member I loved dearly to suicide 💔- mental health treatment, awareness and support is so important. Often, even with these, people are still dying. I know myself the power of medicines, therapy and kindness from loved ones.
One of the reasons I wrote my children’s picture book ‘Arabella and the Worry Cloud’ (illustrated by Shelley the Artist) is because I believe that mental health education and understanding our feelings from a young age is so important. My book focuses on teaching children the power of positive thinking to relieve anxiety. So maybe it can do a bit of good in the world! I definitely didn’t have a book like this as a child.
So, I am so thankful today for the No Panic charity team who have shared this blog about my book today.
As a child, I was a big worrier! I remember feeling anxious from about aged 4. I don’t know if its just my personality/ genetics or what was going on, but I was always a worrier.
So, I decided that I wanted to use my experiences to help children with their mental health too. Poor mental health often starts in childhood. For me, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 16 , and was off school with intense anxiety as part of a depressive episode at 15. It runs in my family and I know there are families now who were like mine or children living in more difficult environments. Children in loving, supportive homes (like mine was) can still experience anxiety around nursery, school, after school clubs and friendship issues, bullying and something I did not have contend with.. social media bullying. Other children have special educational needs or disabilities that impact them day to day. The spectrum is huge and I wanted to create a positive book to help.
Arabella is 7 years old and her special talent is worrying. In the book, her worries are represented by a cloud, known as the Worry Cloud, who comes down to see her from the sky. He reminds her of all her worries and she tries to run away from him. However, once she begins to think of positive thoughts and memories with her family like eating ice cream at the beach or swimming with her brother, her mind becomes lighter and happier. These positive thoughts are represented as light beams of positive energy and she finds she can put her worries into perspective. The book also serves as a reminder that the storm does not last forever!
(image copyright: Eleanor Segall and Shelley the Artist)
I am very blessed that my Dad has a close friend who is a renowned artist- Shelley. Shelley’s art work and illustrations are beautifully drawn, colourful and were perfect for how I wanted Arabella to be. She is an esteemed digital artist, mural maker, painter and sketcher. She really brought Arabella to life! So the process began….
Once Shelley came on board, we met every few weeks online for about 5/6 months so she could show me the illustrations she had created and I could give my input as the author. We had lots of fun while Shelley sketched the characters on her ipad for me over Zoom and we really love working together. Shelley is super talented and I am so thankful she is the illustrator of Arabella! You can see her work at www.shelleytheartist.com
So self publishing… why did I self publish? I had sent the manuscript to agents and had meetings with my old publisher and another famous publisher I had worked with on another book. They for different reasons eg budget and having a similar type of children’s book, did not want to take it on. Submitting books to agents means constant rejections and so I felt that it was slowing down time to get the book out there and thought why not self publish through Amazon instead? I could have submitted to more places as didn’t submit to as many as I could have. I would still love to be represented one day by an agent and major publisher so I will need to send out more manuscripts- watch this space!
Once Shelley and I had finalised the illustrations and pages, she resized them for me and then (through an author friend, Joanna Gutkin) I had the recommendation to Abid Hussain via Fiverr, who formats books! Abid then formatted (laid out) the pages for me and created the PDF files for the ebook and paperback. Once this was finalised and looked at by me, he then put it on Amazon KDP for us. I also spoke to a printer friend (of my Dad again as he has an amazing network) Hak Huseyn of Absolute Print printers who helped me to size it, choose the right paper and printed copies of the paperback for us too. As I am new to self publishing, Hak reminded me I would need an ISBN, so once that was paid for and barcode put on, we were good to go! Thanks Hak and Abid!
(image copyright: Eleanor Segall and Shelley the Artist)
This entire process was not as quick as I describe… it took us 9 months .. oh and I also forgot the trip to the bookshop I took with my Dad to find the right size of children’s book when we were about to format. The bookseller even got a tape measure to size it for us in inches, so thank you to Books on the Hill St Albans.
I also want to thank author friends Joanna Gutkin , Esther Marshall, Lauren Posner and Shani Singer who answered my queries about their books and self publishing and the Empowered Author Group on Facebook too.
Thanks also go to my Dad who believed in this book and helped me so much with it! And to the friends and family who read early copies. Rob, my husband has also been so supportive. And to Shelley for working with me!
If you buy a copy for your child, niece or nephew, cousin, friend’s child or your class at school I hope you love reading it and that it helps your child to understand that worrying happens, but we can talk about it, process it and find healthy ways to cope.
(image: Arabella and the Worry Cloud by Shelley the Artist and Eleanor Segall)
Shelley the Artist and I are proud to reveal the cover to our first children’s book written by me, ‘Arabella and the Worry Cloud’.
Arabella is a little girl with lots of worries, represented by the Worry Cloud who comes to see her, taunts her and threatens to rain on her.
Can Arabella with the help of happy thoughts of her family and trusted cat Pickles push the Worry Cloud away? Or will he stay and rain on her forever as her worries grow?
As a little girl myself, I had lots of worries which led to anxiety and panic. Through our book, we aim to help children aged 5-7ish to process their emotions around worry, to talk about anxiety and to try and replace them with positive thoughts.
The book has beautiful illustrations by Shelley the Artist and we can’t wait to share the link to buy it as soon as its live! We will have an ebook and paperback version.
I have been quite quiet on here for a while but in the background, I have been working on my NEW self-published children’s picture book. I can exclusively tell you it is called ‘Arabella and the Worry Cloud‘ and will be illustrated by acclaimed artist (and good friend) Shelley Levy.
Here is our journey with Arabella…
In 2019, shortly after my book Bring me to Light was published, I wrote a short story that came into my mind about a little girl called Arabella (aged around 6/7) who had anxiety about lots of things in her life- her homework, her cat dying for example. Arabella is followed around by the Worry Cloud, a cloud who represents all her negative thoughts and worries, who threatens to rain on her. Can Arabella learn how to be ready for the Worry Cloud and replace him with positive and happy thoughts?
As a little girl, I struggled with anxiety. Some of my earliest memories are of being sick in the school lunch room aged 4 every day because I had bad separation anxiety and didn’t want to be around the bigger children. When I was about 7, I was also bullied at school and Sunday school (I was a very sensitive child) and this caused me to panic and not want to attend Sunday school so I was home schooled for a bit. I always have been a worrier. Then aged 15, anxiety reared its head again and I was diagnosed with bipolar as part of a depressive episode. I have lived with worry and anxiety most of my life…and I was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s, where it was less understood. Though my family were amazing at supporting me.
My aim through writing Arabella is to help children to process their feelings and emotions around anxiety and to help them feel less alone. I hope that this book can be used in classrooms and therapy clinics to help children struggling with anxiety. It is for 5-7 year olds and explains Arabella’s journey with anxiety through the metaphor of finding the light in the dark storm.
The illustrator of Arabella and the Worry Cloud is my good friend, Shelley Levy. Shelley is an incredible artist and she has drawn the illustrations on her Ipad, using software. My vision to Shelley was to use old fashioned illustration, while making it contemporary and she has truly delivered and brought my characters to life. We can’t wait to show you the finished book once it has been formatted and printed and ready for sale! I am self publishing as I had sent it to various publishers including Welbeck and Pan Macmillan but for various reasons, they couldn’t publish it. However, I truly believe in the story and luckily so do others too 🙂
The sign
I knew Shelley was the right person to illustrate my book (she had given us a painting a a wedding gift) and was so thrilled she has come on board. I asked the Universe for a sign. Shelley is a friend of my dad Mike and they had gone to the theatre. At this time, I had put feelers out to Shelley, that I would like her to illustrate the book. A group of school children were sitting in front of them. They asked one of the girls their name and the girl said ‘Arabella‘. I got tingles hearing this as I had asked for a sign and had already written the title of the book (and Shelley was there)! Also, my late Grandpa Harry kept saying before he passed away in 2021, that I should write a children’s book and be the next Enid Blyton (I wish!).
8 Year Blog Anniversary
As well as this exciting project, this blog turned 8 years old on the 1st March and I just want to thank all of you for sticking with me for this long and to every single writer who has written for Be Ur Own Light this year March 23-24. Too many to list all of you but we have covered so many mental health topics and I’m so proud of all we continue to achieve together, to spread important high quality content about mental health.
There will be more about Arabella and the Worry Cloud coming soon, including images- we hope to sell it on Amazon!
In 2015, Alexander Walton had an idea. It was an emotional short story that he wrote, then placed in brightly coloured envelopes and randomly distributed across the city he lived in. Each one also contained a small gift: a symbol of hope. He called this project Find My Story and through the support and kindness of others, it expanded across the globe.
Over the next five years there were three stories in total. Hundreds of volunteers. Thousands of envelopes. And an avalanche of profound and moving responses from people who had found one of these envelopes, and had the curiosity to open it.
This experience was the inspiration for The Kind Mind Method and ultimately changed the author’s life in ways he never could have expected. He continues to advocate kindness and positivity through his books and ongoing projects.
(image: Alexander Walton)
For years, scientific studies have continuously demonstrated a clear link between kindness and mental wellbeing. Throughout that time, there has never been any unified mechanism to harness this power. Until now.
Do you feel as if you are stuck inside your own head? Does worry stop you engaging with the wider world? Do you sometimes feel helpless to stop negative thoughts? The Kind Mind Method is a simple thought process that will allow you to embrace a positive mindset in everything you do. It will change you in ways you never could have imagined and snap you into the moment like nothing else you have tried.
Built upon proven scientific principles and leveraging the power of kindness, Alexander Walton will explain how you can benefit from this profound change. Through clear steps and real-world examples, he will guide you through its adoption and ongoing usage. Along the way, he will examine how this approach provides you with a true alternative thought that you will actively want to pursue. And by the end of this book, you will understand how it can offer a structured mechanism to deal with any situation, and watch as you seamlessly embrace a different thought. A better thought. A kinder thought.
Here were just some responses to the Find my Story envelopes:
Found your story and you have no idea at what time it entered my life and the impact it had.”
“It is impossible to describe how this story made me feel…I will keep this gift on me until I feel I need to pass it on myself.”
“THANK YOU for writing your story, and sending that message of hope out into the world. I needed it so badly and I’ve kept the gift with me ever since. I’ll never forget the feeling of opening your envelope.”
A Christmas carol’s feeling in the belly. Your story is beautiful and your letter found me in a very special time. A time of uncertainty and doubts where this star blowing in the middle of the night was somehow something I didn’t expect anymore. Thank you so much for that.
You can find Alexander Walton on his website and his book is out now.
Today is World Bipolar Day and for those of us living with bipolar disorder we know that living with it every day, year round is more accurate. However today is our day to talk about life with mental illness and to try and eradicate the stigma around the illness… ‘crazy lady’ ‘nuts’ ‘drama queen’.
World Bipolar Day is designed to raise awareness worldwide of bipolar conditions and to work to eliminate social stigma whilst providing information to educate and help people understand the condition.
Even though I live in remission/recovery with the illness, I am medicated daily to be this way, and I have undergone years of therapy and learnt coping methods too, with support from family.
Well, before I found medication that stabilises my bipolar highs and lows, life looked very different.
There were times I couldn’t work. I was so depressed I lay in bed in all day, only getting up to eat. I was scared to have a shower and wash my hair.
Life looked bleak. All I wanted was my duvet and oblivion. I had intrusive thoughts about ending my life, I was in a lot of emotional pain and this would last for weeks, sometimes months on end.
Bipolar isn’t just a bit high or a bit low…. its depression and mania, suicidal ideation and psychosis, self harm thoughts, hypersexuality, hyper activity, believing delusions that aren’t real…..SO much. Its episodic but it can ruin your life. Some turn to drugs, alcohol, sex to cope. Some hear voices too.
I have been in hospital twice for fairly long stays. I have been sectioned under the mental health act and held in a hospital unit against my will. I have been injected with sedatives to calm my mind and body when I couldn’t consent. I have met people in hospital who were suicidal, anxious, depressed, high on drugs, in psychosis. I lived on a ward where I heard people being restrained.
So, not much fun really. Luckily this month I am celebrating 9 years of remission out of hospital! I also came out of hospital as a nervous wreck and thankfully, therapy has helped.
(Image: speakingbipolar.com)
This blog is inspired by one of my followers who asked me what was my ‘Aha’ moment in recovery.
As well as finding the medicine Lithium, a salt that controls the mood fluctuations, the biggest thing I did for my own healing was go through therapy for my panic attacks and PTSD like symptoms. This was done with the support of my husband and family and because I has been on an NHS waiting list for 2 years, I needed help. My therapist and I have done EMDR trauma therapy which has helped me to process things.
In fact, I still do get anxiety attacks – just less. I have been in a very good place generally in the past year. Finding support at home, at work and from friends and family has been the most stabilising part.
I have had bipolar since I was 15, I am 34 and can tell you that this has not always been the case and my mental health has and will fluctuate.
I learnt recently that bipolar brains are neurodiverse, meaning our brain chemicals act differently to a neurotypical brain. Always good to understand the biology behind it too as this illness can be inherited and run in families- my Dad and I and other relatives have it.
On World Bipolar Day I hope:
-Employers adhere to the disability act and make reasonable adjustments to help those of us with bipolar to work in a better way for them, including hybrid working.
-People with mental illness aren’t fired because they can’t get to a physical workplace.
-Mental health services need better funding, so that people with bipolar can get a correct diagnosis sooner and get the help they need.
-People not in the Western world will get access to mental health medication and therapies that they desperately need.
I first ‘met’ my Twitter friend James Lindsay online when he was first starting to talk about his schizoaffective disorder and psychosis. James also works for Mind doing important work in the mental health sphere and we both live locally to one another. I am really proud of James’s determination, not only in his own life, but to help others through his writing and his new book ‘Befriending My Brain’ with Cherish Editions (Trigger Publishing).
An eye-opening memoir about a young man’s descent into schizoaffective disorder– and the steps he took to regain control of his life.
It’s no secret that, in recent years, mental health has become a major topic of conversation. But just because many people feel comfortable discussing their depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions, doesn’t mean that we have removed all stigma from such diagnoses. This is especially true when it comes to psychotic disorders, which affect less than 1 in 100 people in the UK each year (Mind), thus leaving these disorders shrouded in mystery. It doesn’t help that what the media portrays as schizophrenia or psychosis is not always what the sufferer experiences in real life.
As such, it’s vital that we start to bring psychotic disorders, including psychosis, to the forefront. According to a 2016 report from Public Health England, “psychosis is one of the most life-impacting conditions in healthcare.” But with the proper treatment and understanding, it doesn’t have to be life-altering. The same report states that the sooner someone is treated for their psychosis, the better the chances that they will recover and return to their normal lives.
James Lindsay has experienced the ups and downs of schizoaffective disorder first-hand, and his book does the vital work of removing some of the mystery surrounding such a diagnosis. It includes the red flags he recognises in hindsight after psychosis landed him in hospital for the better part of a month, but it also retells the inspiring journey he took to recovery in all aspects of his life.
In his case, psychosis and his path to better mental health gave him a new passion in life: helping others through their own diagnoses and getting their lives back, just as he did. No matter where readers are on their journeys, James’ memoir will resonate and remind them, as he puts it, that “recovery is always possible, and hope is never far away.”
You can buy a copy of Befriending My Brain: A Psychosis Story by James Lindsay at Amazon, Trigger, Waterstones, WH Smith and all good bookshops.
MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR Hailing from Watford, Hertfordshire, James Lindsay works for Hertfordshire Mind Network and uses his free time to advocate for mental health care by blogging and appearing on podcasts and TV. James enjoys playing football, going to the cinema, spending time with friends and family, and exploring new places, with his partner, Holly. Befriending My Brain is his first book.
Three years ago my book ‘Bring me to Light: Embracing my Bipolar and Social Anxiety ‘was published by Trigger and Welbeck Publishing Group💜
I hope that by sharing my story (and my Dads too) that it helps you or someone you know going through mental illness. I hope that it shone a light on the dark, gritty parts of bipolar that many will never experience. And I hope that my book also shows the happy parts; recovery, that you can live and thrive again.
Bipolar is a complex and messy condition. It can ruin lives. There is no sugar coating. But you can be well too if you can find the right balance of medication and therapy…which is trial and error.
Thank you to every person who read it, reviewed it and got in touch to tell me their own journey.😍 Please continue to share and gift it to someone who needs it.
If you havnt read my story yet; the book is available in Amazon, Waterstones, WH Smith; Blackwells and is available in the USA and Europe.
Thank you to all of you who have supported me – it means the world.
Sometimes, you receive amazing book reviews on the internet and don’t realise they are there!
Yesterday, I stumbled upon Deb Wilk’s blog Living Bipolar – Deb has lived with bipolar disorder for many years and very kindly reviewed my book last year. She lives in the USA and is a talented blogger, sharing about her life living with bipolar.
I don’t always know what to expect with reviews, but this was so positive so thank you Deb for reading, enjoying and recommending my book Bring me to Light: Embracing my Bipolar and Social Anxiety. Heres some quotes from the review:
“Every word, paragraph and chapter of Bring Me to Light was utterly mesmerizing. Eleanor Segall’s account of her battle with bipolar 1, panic attacks, and crippling social anxiety is so vibrant that the reader feels as though they are experiencing it right alongside her.
I would love to describe the book in detail, but I am not going to give anything away because this book is an absolute must-read. Anyone who is bipolar or loves someone who is, should read this story. It is a moving narrative that anyone, even those who do not suffer with mental illness, should read. …
She is now an extremely forceful voice in the mental health community, and this accolade is incredibly well deserved. Please read this book. You will find it well worthwhile and, I am certain, as enthralling as I did.” (Deb Wilk, living bipolar blog)
beurownlight.com 