Q: What’s your dream writing challenge? What are you most enthusiastic about now?
I’ve a whole lot of dream writing initiatives. I am continuously at work on one thing. I moved to Los Angeles a number of years in the past to proceed my writing profession, and I am glad I did. I’ve met so many like-minded creatives who I’ve related with and inspire me to maintain going. Naturally being in LA, I’ve been engaged on a number of screenplays, one in all which has a whole lot of potential. I’m additionally at the moment at work on a brand new novel about generational trauma. I am hoping to have draft executed by the tip of the yr, however we’ll see. However to come back again to your query, I do not suppose I’ve one particular dream challenge. Among the finest issues about being a inventive individual is difficult your self with each new concept. You by no means know which concept is your magnum opus till the very finish. So each new concept excites you greater than the final one. I’ve too many concepts in my head to surrender on. My dream is to refill one bookshelf with my revealed works, a mix of my poems, tales, novels, essays, screenplays, and so on. Only one shelf. If I can try this, I can die glad.
Q: What do you suppose folks misunderstand about despair, nervousness, and/or bipolar dysfunction?
Lots, truly. Having a psychological sickness is having an invisible sickness; you can not clearly see it. Thus, one can think about the traits of it to be a part of one’s persona. An individual isn’t their psychological sickness, and we now have a pseudo-scientific self-help mentality inside American tradition primarily based solely on individualism. It’s a tradition that each shames folks for having a psychological sickness and even jokes about it to somebody’s face. Whereas speaking about psychological sickness is now not a stigma, the language we use for it has entered popular culture and delegitimizes the severity of the sickness. It isn’t humorous to joke about being “so bipolar immediately.” There isn’t a break from an actual bipolar dysfunction. It isn’t simply in the future you are feeling your temper shift uncontrollably. It’s on daily basis. You can’t self-help your means out of deep despair. You possibly can learn all of the positivity books on self-improvement all you need. However actual despair is the positivity not reaching you. It’s all logic thrown out the window. It’s you imagining your existence is pointless, that the world will transfer on. It’s the invisible hearth burning you alive from the within that there isn’t any saving you. And it is laborious to be weak about it as a result of our tradition doesn’t worth vulnerability. It values a facade of energy. However true energy is in being open together with your vulnerability. That you just need assistance. That you just want a hug. That you just simply should name out of labor immediately as a result of all the pieces is overwhelming and nothing feels proper. And you recognize what? You deserve that rattling hug.
Q: How do you suppose social media influences psychological well being? Total is it for the nice, dangerous, or each?
Psychological sickness on social media is a really nuanced dialog that has sadly by no means been precisely mentioned. Social media is a instrument. Instruments are themselves neither good nor dangerous. There isn’t a fail-safe instrument as a result of it should undergo the identical weak spot each instrument has: its consumer. Social media is a neighborhood, and communities can each assist and fail you. Once I was first recognized with bipolar dysfunction, I withdrew from my mates and neighborhood. I didn’t need to discuss what I used to be going via. I felt too ashamed. However in the future I opened up on social media. And of all locations, that is the place I obtained essentially the most help. Even outdated mates reached out to reconnect with me after studying my posts. Granted, this isn’t everybody’s expertise with social media. There are too many circumstances the place social media turns into extremely dangerous to at least one’s shallowness. However I consider our tradition as a complete is at fault. I’m answering this interview proper now as genuinely as doable within the hopes that somebody with a psychological sickness will learn this and really feel much less alone and extra validated, and this interview itself will probably be shared on social media. There will probably be those that won’t ever perceive. However that is what’s so attention-grabbing about communities. You are not obligated to stick with the fallacious ones. You’ve gotten the precise to construct communities that can validate you and make you are feeling safer and extra understood. Not everybody will perceive you. Some will even assault you. However attain out anyway. You are doing all of your greatest. That’s sufficient.
Christopher Soriano-Palma was born and raised in Watsonville, CA. He graduated with an MFA in Writing from the College of San Francisco and at the moment lives in Los Angeles. At present at work on a number of screenplays and novels, Christopher’s work consists of the themes of despair, nervousness, and bipolar dysfunction. His mission to assist folks really feel much less alone by serving to them share their vulnerability.
