I would love more than anything to spread mental health awareness through my writing and images, and to shed light on stigma by showing that being open and honest is the best way to fight it. In light of Robin Williams' death, which happened a day beofore I posted this entire book for free on this very website, for almost a year until I had it published, I feel this is a time when such an issue is prevalent in common conversation, and the general public might be more inclined to pay attention to such matter. I want to educate a large audience, but ultimately I want to inspire those I teach.
With my website I reveal the beauty a mentally ill mind can convey. I work with my fiance, Amanda Langdon, often to create works of art, and together we are trying to turn my website into a company that reveals beautiful visual messages and honest words throughout. I wrote my book in my own words, with my own voice, unedited to reveal a mind that has suffered, but one in which never gave up.
I would like to share this book with everyone, for I have nothing to hide and nothing to be ashamed of. The general public is my target audience, though I know such a statement is broad. However, it is this very general public that all shares a family or friend's secret of a connection in some way or another to mental illness and a life of vitality that can be such a struggle to maintain. It is also this general public that can be truly vulnerable to the ignorance that stigma wants to keep, and I want more than anything to do my part, with my best effort, to eliminate this ignorance, as every ounce of honesty I express is my way of fighting the very stigma I have been so obsessed about since my initial diagnosis, of a person who suffers from bipolar-one disorder, when I was just seventeen, in high school.
My book is a work of art, completely visual. It is literally, my mind UNEDITED.
I believe that I have created something beautiful, already completely loved by myself, my friends, my family, and hopefully soon, a random stranger that shares a connection.
Please, feel inclined to purchase my work and to read my words, shedding light on stigma, while gaining complete and utter awareness. As you do this I promise to continue walking with a disability in which I am not ashamed to carry and, finally, more than proud to reveal.
If there is any way you can help me get my message across please contact my email at blake.r.horsley@gmail.com,
or call me at 647. 985. 3886.
The first step to fighting stigma towards mental illness is absolutely suffocating any shame associated with it. This book intends to do just that, as it spreads awareness and encourages hope for the health and vitality every mind deserves.
I have no shame, and I reveal that through the words I have written. I will not hide my illness anymore, as I believe no one who shares in such an ailment deserves to as well. Honesty is the first step to getting treatment, and treatment is the solution to a mind that is unstable and to a person suffering because of it.
I trust you will share the knowledge of this book if you agree with my intentions. I trust good will come of it as I aim to do nothing but shed hope and inspire.
This book kept me alive during my darkest hour.
I now do what I love so as to always want to stay alive.
As the tattoos on my wrists read, from the writing my parents gave me, "love life", and never wash those words from your mind.
Happiness will always come and go, but a life filled with purpose, and a mind that is at peace, has the potential to be forever permanent.
Thank you so much for giving me the chance to share in something so important to me.
Thank you so much for helping me not be ashamed of the disability I carry.
Thank you for inspiring me to want to inspire others.
Thank you for giving me even more of a reason to love my very own reflection.
Thank you for reading this and giving me a purpose far greater than one I ever thought possible.
Thank you for being.
what is a MAN wIth glAsses?
My name is Blake Robert Horsley, and I am an artist and writer.
I have written a book about my personal battle with bipolar
disorder, and I am currently selling it on blurb.ca
as both a hardcover and an eBook. It is a story of a mental breakdown, one I have suffered, titled " a MAN wIth glAsses ". A stream of consciousness of depression follows and is captured in real time, unedited, to reveal the mind of myself, far in contrast to the beauty I depict in my art and far from the colours I try so hard to put on canvas so often. It is the mind of myself, mentally ill, waiting desperately for stability, staying strong enough to stay alive, but too weak to even open my blinds. My deepest questions are revealed, and in time my most honest truths are gathered.
I finished the book on June 28th, 2014 and on that date I realized something. Time took me somewhere because I allowed it to. And where I was then, on that morning, was only real because time allowed me to be there. I cannot answer why I am alive to begin with, but I can honestly say I am still alive because my instinct would and will not allow my mind to give up. It takes strength to catch your breath, but it takes just as much strength to smother it.
I choose to just breathe, and speak truthfully on why I have made that choice.