---

I did it!

I published a book and it’s available to buy on the internet. Crazy.

If you are in Canada, the Amazon.ca link is here.

Amazon.com link is here.

Okay, now that you know where to buy the book, I want to talk about this experience….

The picture at the top of this blog (not the pic of the Amazon page, obviously) is of me and my Dad (and my dog, as she’s really the star of the show, let’s face it) at my art opening at the Art Gallery of Golden last Friday. Notice my beret, yes that is the one I bought when I drew the “Bear-et” comic. I thought the perfect opportunity to wear it was an art opening. Not ironic at all. Only sassy.

My Mum & Dad drove 9 hours to surprise me and come to this art opening. That’s 9 hours of driving, in winter, in Canada for my little show. If that isn’t supportive parenting, I don’t know what is. This meant a lot to me. Not only was it so amazing to be surprised by them, but to see them interact with my friends and the team at the art gallery was kind of surreal.

One of my friends was asking my Mum how she felt about my work, given I talk a lot about my mental health journey, and that must be tough as a parent to read about.

For some context, my Mum is a nurse practitioner, and she sees people with depression and other mental health issues every day. It’s of course different, reading about your kid’s journey and sadness versus a patient. That said, I’m so lucky she is well equipped to understand the medical and practical side of the shit I talk about in my work.

She said even though she wants her children to be happy all the time, she knows it’s not possible and it is sometimes hard to read my work. However, my Mum and Dad have supported me since the beginning, despite the hard nature of topics in my work, and have always been there for me to talk to. That’s good parenting.

No one can be happy all the time. It’s hard to put it out in the world, our struggles, our fears, our insecurities, but I know my Mum & Dad understand that the last thing I ever want this work to do is make them feel like they didn’t do a great job. I know that it doesn’t.

I can see how it would be really hard for many people to talk about their struggles publicly, as I bet they wouldn’t want their parents to read about it.

Mum & Dad, thanks for being such beautiful parents and supporting my art and message. Not everyone can put it out there, but everyone struggles and needs to know they aren’t alone.

Besides my awesome parents, I had friends come out from the city, local pals swing by and I had the opportunity to do a little talk about the project.

I was really feeling the love.

At many moments I kept thinking I shouldn’t have done all this, (my demon was getting pretty vocal actually, the little shit)and I didn’t need to make such a big deal about it. My parents really shouldn’t have driven all the way down here, am I getting a bit too big headed about this? It’s not like the book was taken on by a major publishing house, it’s not like my experiences and struggles are anything that different than what many people feel. Why am I making such a big thing out of this???

It’s so crazy how society tells us that to celebrate our achievements and talk about them and put them out there is arrogant. “Be humble”, “be modest”, “don’t show off”….the list goes on.

I had to tell myself more than once that night to let go of those thoughts. Be proud of myself and enjoy what I’ve accomplished. Even after accomplishing all this, I still doubt I’m worth all the fuss. Ah to be human. I still have a voice telling me this stuff daily, but I am better at letting it go and simply telling myself that voice is a product of all the shit society has taught me, all my experiences, my brain going into protective mode. When in reality, I can sit back and watch the demon, but I don’t have to take her seriously.

Thank you to everyone who came out to support my work, to everyone who has bought the book, and to everyone who has laughed at any of my jokes.

Thank you.