MHI: MY WHY by Steve Stred

Trigger Warning: This piece addresses mental health

The HWA is pleased to launch its Mental Health Initiative, a coordinated roll-out of events, resources, and activities intended to promote positive mental health, foster the concept of hope, and challenge the stigma of mental illness in the horror genre. The initiative, run by the organization’s Wellness Committee, launches in June, and includes the following blog posts from Of Horror and Hope, a downloadable anthology of poems, flash fiction, and personal reflections on mental health by HWA members.

MY WHY
Steve Stred

In 1996, I was at my lowest.

I was in Grade 10 and no longer wanted to keep going.

My parents and my family doctor admitted me to the nearest Psychiatric facility, in a town two hours away. Accompanied by only a book and some CDs, I went and found a way to hold onto hope.

It was there that the kernels of my first novel was born. That novel wouldn’t be released until 2016, two decades later, but it gave me something tangible to strive for.

As my life has experienced ups and downs, my drive to take what is in my head; craft it, plot it, and put it onto paper has only increased.

And with that increase has also come the passion to help support, encourage and lift up those around me. Reading and writing are two of the most important elements in my life. They take me away from current events, from stress, anxiety, money, and health issues and transport me to other worlds, other places and with other people. Characters that bring me joy and heartache and happiness and sorrow.

At the lowest moments in my life, books and horror have always been there for me.

I’ve seen counsellors and therapists throughout the years, and one thing has been a constant—they’ve always praised my love of reading and writing.

My hope, is that I can continue to support and encourage other readers and writers out there, so that they too can find something to grab hold of and use, when they’re at their lowest moments.

Sometimes, losing ourselves in another world is the exact thing we need to experience hope in this world.