Anxiety journey inspires Chatham author’s first book

From an early age, Joel Emery knew he had an aptitude for the printed word.

Article content

Now, the Chatham man is able to hold a copy of his first independent book in his hands.

Emery recently released In My Write Mind: Musings on Mental Health, Self-Growth, Relationships, and Everything in Between, which was inspired by his journey with anxiety.

“I’ve been around storytelling and stories since I was a kid,” he said Tuesday. “Just from my mom being a self-published children’s book author … and while my mom was promoting her book, my dad would be reading me stories at bedtime.

“So, I’ve always been exposed to that world. Because of that, my parents laid this foundation for me to explore my imagination through the creation of my own stories.”

Emery, 38, began writing when he “discovered the beautiful marriage between a pencil and paper,” at first on blue-lined paper.

Article content

While continuing to share his experiences and thoughts in later years through blogs and social media, he had a feeling he would write a book someday.

“What I didn’t know was what that would look like, or how I would get there,” he said.

“But then in 2018, I came out with anxiety, and what that did for me is it really opened up the floodgates for me to express my thoughts and opinions on other things that were going on my life, whether it was to do with mental health or not.”

He began looking into various themes, including family, friendships and relationships, which all became part of his “recipe” for his book.

“One of the biggest takeaways that I want people to receive is that they’re not alone in their battles or their experiences,” he said. “Our stories have the power to create connection, community and compassion.

Article content

“It only takes one person to speak up about something that they might be experiencing for a whole bunch of other people, for them to finally feel heard, or seen, or validated.”

An essay about a pivotal moment in Emery’s life is also included.

He said while mental health stigma still exists, more people are becoming aware about the importance of dialogue, along with the relationship between the mind and body.

“I definitely think there has been more discussion about mental health because of COVID, just because we were so isolated at that time, people were finding other ways to connect,” he said. “We were all kind of re-evaluating our lives.

“Mental health and physical health, they’re a couple. When you’re not feeling mentally well, your body feels that. And when you’re not feeling physically well, your mind feels that.”

Article content

The book was illustrated by acclaimed local artist, Sarah Steele, who may be familiar to many due to her mural work in recent months.

In addition to the cover, she created an illustration for each musing of Emery.

“As you can imagine, it was a fantastic experience,” he said. “We already knew each other personally, just as friends. But to take on a project like this together… it just kind of enriched our friendship. It was honestly such a fun collaboration.

“It was really fun to take my words and visualize them into an illustration.”

Emery will hold a book-signing at Turns and Tales in downtown Chatham on Saturday, from 2 to 4 pm

For more information on the book or the author, visit www.thewritejoel.com

[email protected]

Article content