MHI: LIVING IN HELL by M. Lee Goodson

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.

LIVING IN HELL
By M. Lee Goodson

I write every day about living with mental illness and I often compare it to the myth of Sisyphus. He’s a man in hell, who is stuck forever rolling a boulder up a hill. Once it gets to the top of the hill, the boulder rolls back down the hill, and he must start all over again. For me, that’s what living with mental illness is like. It’s a journey through hell where every time I think I am on stable ground, I find myself falling and having to start all over again. Just like Sisyphus, I find myself at the bottom of the hill having to roll that boulder up that hill one more time.
And just like Sisyphus, I realize that all good stories aren’t just about the beginnings or endings, they need the plot, too. I have hope in my life because while I may have a difficult journey that goes through hell; my story has meaning.