Member-only story
How Medium is Helping My Mental Health
When I first started writing for Medium, tragedy had taken its place in my life, not for the first time in a handful of years.
My father had just been diagnosed with brain cancer and given a poor prognosis — I was an anxious mess, despite our historically strained relationship.
I struggle to put into words how much his illness and subsequent passing affected me. I have learned a lot about myself over the last year, and indeed it has been that hard-won wisdom that has led me towards wanting to live a better life. For my father.
That said, my mental health was in the toilet when I penned my very first Medium article.
It is lost to the sands of the time now, as I deleted it a few months later, but I wrote a lot about my hatred for my father and how I struggled with that in the wake of his illness.
And the support I found was astounding. Incredible.
I’ve been a part of a few different writing groups over my two decades dedicated to this craft, but Medium contains by far the most active, supportive, and loving group of writers I’ve ever encountered.
Coming to Medium was like coming home. I had finally found my tribe.
At the time, I was working a full-time job, and my declining mental health was effecting…
