“Selfish”

All of my poems Are about you When will I see That they should be About me?

Otherwise Perfect on sale!

In honor of #WorldSuicidePreventionMonth, my novel Otherwise Perfect is now on sale for just 0.99 (Kindle edition only). Writing this novel helped me through the worst depression I’ve ever experienced, and my only hope is that someday it might help someone else. -JLH “Otherwise Perfect” Description: Jesse and Wes are college seniors and best friends…

“Green”

Someone else’s heart Someone else’s dream  Became your lies  And everything you fantasize  When will you see All the chances you’ve blown? When will you stop hiding from life And live your own? #poetry #poems #script

Why I Kept Living

I have kept my story to myself for a long time. I can’t really say why. I guess it’s because of the fear of being judged, or being thought of as “weird,” or one of the million other reasons why people don’t want to talk about their depression or mental health. But I realized that…

World Suicide Prevention Week

September 5th starts World Suicide Prevention Week 2016. There is so much stigma around mental health and I believe that is one of the reasons that suicide rates are higher now than they’ve been in the last thirty years. Depression is not easy to talk about. Suicide is even harder to talk about. But it’s…

“Just Smile”

In my life, I have been told many times that I should smile. Most of the time by strangers who don’t know me at all and have no idea what I have been through or what I’m currently going through. I will never forget one man in particular, several years ago. I was at work…

“Sink”

It doesn’t matter If I rise above the defeat Love still drags me down And my heart bleeds More than it beats

Letters

I should have known I used too many words When three would have been enough

Keep Graceful Dancing

These beautiful words on my left shoulder are from one of my favorite Blue October songs, “Graceful Dancing.” To me, it signifies overcoming every obstacle, rising above when depression tries to drag me down and living each day as if it might be my last. I got this tattoo (my first) in 2014, one year…

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a hard day for a lot of people, including me. Internet and TV are swarmed with advertising what to get for your mother, where to take her, what to do for her. I know it’s not meant to alienate those who have lost their mothers, but it can. This is a well…