Contributor Interview
What have you been up to these last couple of months?
The past few months have been a whirlwind, and I’m trying to stay measured about my happiness in my recent writing successes as I know writing and creating art is generally a rollercoaster for me: there were years where I didn’t write at all. Still, I’m trying to enjoy the progress where I can: I had eight pieces published in January (!!), one with a serious dream publication, and have been able to regularly maintain my writing blog. More importantly though, I think I’ve figured out a writing routine that works for me that has me writing nearly every day without being too pressure-based or even precious about it.
What are your long-term creative plans? Are you working on something big and secret or taking it day by day?
As the songwriter Father John Misty says, I’m writing a novel. It’s been over a decade since I’ve written anything longer than 3,000 words and, with the help of a Grubstreet writing workshop this winter, I was able to churn out a first draft of 80,000 words (its subject involves mental health) in addition to an 11,000 word novellette and a bouquet of flash fiction. All of them need full revisions - a writer’s work is never done - but proving to myself that, after all this time spent in the flash and short fiction world, I’m able to write something longer and more complex has been a huge triumph for me. More importantly, I really had fun doing it. I think before when I was focused on novel writing, I was so obsessed with having writing be my career that the pressure I put on myself took away from my enjoyment of creating and now that I’m a bit more grounded, I can approach the work with a lens of true joy rather than gosh, if I don’t get this novel published I’m a failure. The stakes don’t feel as high for me as they did back then, which I think has allowed me to take more risks and be more creative.
What’s the status of your mental health these days? It’s in all ways prosaic to say that we live in trying times. How is the zeitgeist responsible? What are some actionable ways in which you’re taking steps to quiet the void, if any? (If it’s a glass of wine and an episode of Mad Men at the day’s end, that counts, please know that).
Up until mid-February, I was in a really good place in my mental health. I’d minimized doom scrolling and shifted my focus on the news to podcasts that help me stay informed without being overwhelmed by the absolute dumpster fire we’re living in. Unfortunately, a big part of my mental health is dictated by work stress and there was an unexpected shift in my role a week ago. The change of scope and responsibility sent me spiraling, and I think also opened up a cavern for non-work stress to enter the scene. Lots of no sleep and high heart rates and general unwell-feeling that left me either too up or too exhausted because I felt like I was responding to even the most mundane of requests loaded full of cortisol. In terms of dealing with it, I’ve been able to go back to the physical and mental tools my therapist gave me: minimizing caffeine intake, drinking mint tea throughout the day, staying hydrated, and, when things get too overwhelming in my head, writing them down and then visualizing locking them in a little steel box. Even closing my eyes and watching a key turn in this fake box in my head has helped me immensely. I’ve also tried to put some lighthearted night reads in rotation to keep me engaged but not so engrossed that I start spiraling again.
What is something you’d like readers to take away from your work in regards to mental health advocacy, discussion, or criticism?
Sometimes, I think we treat our mental illness as a villain, separate from us, where really, it’s the part of ourselves that needs the most love and care. “Her Better Half” acknowledges how split in two we can sometimes feel, how we’re always looking for the cure that brings us back to equilibrium, how it feels like we’re carrying the weight of two people around with us rather than just one. In discussions around mental health, we talk about how we are in the abstract, as a feeling, and I wanted depression and anxiety in my piece to carry a physical weight: the heaviness of the body, the quirk of an eyebrow, the sarcastic tenor of the cynic. The title is meant to challenge the assumption that there is a better half to ourselves, that even when we rid ourselves of a cloud, are we really sure what and who we’re left with? I don’t have an answer to this but all in all, I think we’re all just looking for a bit of peace.
Why do you create, still, despite the climate and political current and pervasive doubt we’re made slaves to?
It’s more important than ever to create during times of emergency such as these. It’s important to feel that your voice matters, that your opinion matters. Doing so has helped me forge a creative and supportive community and hear what others have to say and how they resist, even in a small way, every day. It might be strange to say but it’s important that we record our own acts of resistance, even in thought, and, harder still, reflect on our own complicity as places turn back the clock on progress. Simply journaling, in my opinion, can be an act of protest. Simply processing the how and why you feel a certain way about the world is an act of resistance and until those methods are taken away from us, we have a responsibility to keep creating in order to ensure that somewhere along the way, the light gets back in.
When was the last time you told your psychiatrist or therapist something you were afraid to disclose? In your own words, how do you feel about going up against the stigma?
Therapy taught me everything is linked: your past to your future, your now to your older and younger selves. When I was regularly seeing a therapist for work stress about two years ago, I definitely opened up components of my life as a way of understanding why I react the way I do to stressful situations and conflict at work. Personally, I think that the hardest judge of you is yourself and once you say out loud what it is that you’re afraid to disclose, it loses its power over you and you can take meaningful steps to adjust around it and with it as a part of your history.
Anything else you’d like to share?
What the team at Libre has done is nothing short of innovative and open-hearted in these dark times. As the wellness industry and machine turn its gaze on mental health, there was and is a risk that the principles of mental health advocacy get muddled up with capitalist goals. Creating art that enables a discussion around mental health enables us to strip back to the foundations and let the truth surface again. So thank you, Libre, for creating this space and championing voices large and small.
Salena Casha's work has appeared in over 100 publications in the last decade. Her most recent work can be found on HAD, Carmina Magazine, and Club Plum. She survives New England winters on good beer and black coffee. Subscribe to her substack at salenacasha.substack.com. Socials: Bluesky & Instagram