Sara Sheehan is a Connecticut-based author and fierce mental health advocate. She is the author of MoonSoulChild: The Journey Through my Heart, I Was Never Broken, and Letters to You. Join Tangible Movement Editor-in-Chief Jessica Hutt in discovering the intersection between Sara’s mental health journey and her writing career.

Jessica Hutt: Tell us about your writing! How does mental health influence your work?

Sara Sheehan: My writing is a trip through my mind and a journey through my heart. Writing has been a huge part of my life because it’s the one therapy that has worked. Being in my own solitude, away from everyone, and just inside my own heart. I felt secure when I wrote, and that’s not a feeling I felt from anyone, including myself.

Hutt: What is your personal experience with mental illness? How did it become such an important part of your life?

Sheehan: Anxiety has been a huge part of my life before I even knew, or could accept it. Growing up I didn’t talk. I would get anxious to just talk around people I didn’t know, or even close family members. I never did public speaking until college. I feared talking, and the impact put on my shyness. I became the girl who “didn’t talk” or “couldn’t talk”, and it was miserable to be made up into a joke because I didn’t speak to anyone. I remember people would find it odd that I actually had friends, and the people I was close with didn’t treat me like I was abnormal. I wanted to be normal, I wanted to be how open everyone could be, I wanted to be outgoing. I didn’t have the voice, my anxiety had other plans for me. I found my voice when I wrote - that’s how I managed. I grew up and out of my “shy” phase after I graduated high school, I managed my nerves well, and when it came to situations, I did the best I could and wrote my heart out. My anxiety hit all time high when my friend passed in 2017. I spent a whole year anxious, depressed, and trying to grieve, while trying to understand myself. Anxiety is a mind game. It will have you believing what your own mind makes up. I’ve became “sick” off illusions I created to the point where I actually felt sick, and it’s terrifying because you can accept it, and still never catch it the next time around.

Hutt: How did you get into writing? How does it help you?

Sheehan: High school days, young and in lust. But really, Neyo got me into writing. I remember loving his music and admiring the fact he wrote every word. Still to this day, I pray one day we can write something together because he’s my inspiration. I started off wanting to write music, but when I really started to write, I just let it flow. I wrote best when it came to my heart. I expressed myself through my writing and I loved having an outlet to be my own person. Writing has saved my life, because I wouldn’t be this sane without putting my feelings into words. I always thought of writing as a friend to me, it was always there when no one could understand, because I was the only one who actually felt it. Writing has helped me overcome my fear of being known, though I still get anxious being the center of attention. I’m more known, but with a little mystery.

Hutt: What advice would you give to people who are suffering in the same ways that you have? How do you cope?

Sheehan: I’ve said this one time in one of my pieces - “I can’t give you ways to overcome anxiety, or any mental illness, or weight you’re carrying, but I can tell you you’re not alone. I can tell you it’s just your mind playing tricks on you. Some days I find myself not ready to take on my everyday life, or even in a mood that I can’t shake, and seem to not know what’s wrong. I take a mental health day and do what it is I need to feel better, whether that’s sleep, enjoying a good tv show, getting some sun, or writing. Just because you’re suffering in that moment doesn’t mean every moment has to be so bad. Find something that helps you feel secure and in control. Think of something that makes you feel good in the same moment you feel you lose yourself, do more of that. Writing is that for me.

Hutt: Is there anything else about yourself, your story, or mental health that you would like to share with us?

Sheehan: My story is all in my writing, each book I’ve released is a piece of myself. I write for my own healing, but in hopes that my work comes across someone it may help, too. I inspire to open the eyes of the hearts of many, to show their heart and stop spreading hate. I want everyone to know they’re worth more than how they appear to be, and that your true worth is never in the eyes, but only felt within the heart.

Want more Sheehan? Follow her on Instagram and Twitter! Her works can be purchased on Amazon.