Stark Raving Sane: Being Well Won’t Turn You “Normal”
Dearest Plague Rats,
Welcome to the very first edition of Stark Raving Sane!
In these short weekly notes, you’ll find three things: (1) something I’ve learned about being wild AND well, (2) words from brilliant minds who struggled with mental health too, and (3) one small experiment for you to try.
Let’s begin.
The Well
The scariest thing I ever did was to treat my bipolar disorder, terrified it would turn me "normal."
But in fact, being well made me MORE wild.
This is what "stark raving sane" has always meant to me.
Taking my mental health seriously didn't make me boring. It gave me the capacity to be fully, wildly myself.
It also kept me on the planet, and, as far as I know, I can create more things this way.
The Wild
"Normality is a paved road: It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it." — Vincent Van Gogh
"Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind." — Virginia Woolf
"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?" — Frida Kahlo
The Way
This week, do one wild thing paired with one well thing. Dye your hair pink AND do breathing exercises (I just did this one and my sink is horribly stained). Wear the dramatic outfit in public AND actually eat. Make the art AND sleep more than four hours.
Pick YOUR version of wild. Pick YOUR version of well. Do them together. Prove to yourself that you can be both.
Closing Thoughts
The artists whose words you've just read? They burned brightly and briefly. They didn't have the chance to find out who they could have become, what they could have created, if they'd lived to be wild and well.
You have that chance. And I think you deserve to find out.
But if that’s asking too much—if you can’t do it for yourself right now—do it for Frida.
Do it for Virginia.
Do it for Van Gogh.
