This week has been another very busy week!

Next week is my last week of work before maternity leave starts, and we still aren’t sure who will be replacing me! It could be a last minute long-term substitute or a daily sub until someone is hired. Needless to say, that is very nerve wracking-leaving my students and my classroom in the hands of not one but potentially two or three strangers!

But thank goodness for the amazing organizational skills I’ve developed because I’ve spent most of the week building lessons for my first week out (just in case! I know I don’t have to but I can’t leave things up in the air!) and putting together a very beautiful binder (if I do say so myself) of instructions!

On top of all that and working on my lit review, it’s no wonder I’ve been going to bed by 8-830-ish every night haha trying to enjoy getting to sleep for as long as I can!

As for my lit review-I think I’m pretty close to done! I have about 15 sources (I will probably add to that later on in the semester, but for right now, I’m feeling good) and I’ve organized my new sources into the categories I currently have and have even formed two new categories.

Throughout my process, both of researching and the actual writing, I realized that what I really am aiming to do is normalize mental illness. I want to show that you don’t “fix” mental health issues or find a “cure”. One of the most liberating experiences for me was when I came to accept that. I fought so hard to be “okay” that whenever I was triggered, I felt like a failure. Knowing I would always live with OCD and accepting that are two totally different things, and it took a lot of work to get there. I want my audience to know that it’s not just okay to live with mental health, that it’s reality! That it is just a part of what makes them all beautiful and unique and strong.

In researching a few weeks ago, and I mentioned this in a previous post, I came across an article that discussed the harmful effects of, or misguided intentions of, current YA novels that deal with trauma and mental health where one of the teens does not remain hopeful. I also mentioned that I originally planned on a similar ending for one of my characters. But this article was really jarring and it made me go back into my work this week and make sure that while I show that the struggle is real, I also am making damn sure these characters ultimately remain hopeful. Hopeful doesn’t mean you are positive and joyful all day every day. My characters will struggle, but it is in that struggle that they find hope. And that’s what I want to show.