Meet Emily Scialom

We recently connected with Emily Scialom and have shared our conversation below.

Emily , sincerely appreciate your selflessness in agreeing to discuss your mental health journey and how you overcame and persisted despite the challenges. Please share with our readers how you overcame. For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

I never talk about my struggles with mental health in the media, but it’s ultimately been one of the most powerful journeys of my life.

During my descent into mental illness, I struggled to write: I realised I had serious problems when I couldn’t scribble a single line onto a piece of paper and recoiled at the mental condition I found myself in. My inability to do what I do best scared me. Without my lifeline of creative expression, I felt adrift in a dark and stormy sea. I was alone and full of pain.

Since then I have been on a long and arduous healing journey involving prayer, rest and plenty of self-analysis. Coming to terms with your deepest psychological issues is not for the faint of heart: during the process it’s often the case that friends leave you, lovers reject you, and family talk badly about you (sometimes even to your face).

However, in becoming less mentally ill, I find the world spiralling collectively as I once did as an individual. The future requires much healing and reflection for us to rebalance as a species.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am an author of eight books including my acclaimed debut novel, The Religion of Self-Enlightenment (The ROSE). I recently featured in a Times Square billboard campaign, have been interviewed on BBC radio five times and have even graced the cover of several literary magazines.

I am keen to share my journey with the world. I grew up as a troubled child in Glastonbury, Somerset and writing became my passion at a young age. At 8 years old, I became a nationally published poet and, aged 16, I was also internationally published as the result of winning various competitions.

I spent my adolescence wanting to be a singer-songwriter. I now have an album and two EPs on streaming sites. However, after several violent personal tragedies, my path took a different course and I began writing novels in 2008. I spent 8 years writing my aforementioned debut novel, The ROSE. It explores the spiritual awakening of a young man named Carrick Ares, who writes a new peaceful and radically loving religion in order to try to help save the world.

The ROSE has now been declared “a modern cult classic” by various media outlets and seeing this labour of love go from strength to strength is the great joy of my life. Through literature, I long to help as many people as humanly possible during these strange and turbulent times.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

You need a vision. I want to be an author of classic literature and I will move Heaven and Earth to accomplish this aim. I may never achieve my vision. Nonetheless, the nearer I get to it, the happier I become!

You need to learn to rely on others. Get someone to help you with the editorial process, promotion or anything else you see fit. You can’t do everything by yourself.

Your karmic trail matters. Make sure everyone remembers you kindly as much as possible. You don’t want to make enemies on your way up then bump into them again on the way down.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

Conversations With God by Neale Donald Walsch was hugely influential to my life and work. After a series of personal tragedies, Walsch writes a letter to God and, rightly or wrongly, believes he is answered. The audacity to claim that he was talking to our creator and the ability to convince the reader of the legitimacy of that claim is wondrous to experience. My favourite part of the deep wisdom this book contains is that we must learn to observe what works and what doesn’t work. If we do this, we will always find a way to prosper. It has such a gentle approach to spirituality unlike conventional religious books, which tend towards the fire and brimstone. Walsch takes a much more Taoist approach to life’s meaning and I appreciate that about him.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emilyscialom.com
• Instagram: @ebscialom
• Twitter: @emilybsci1
• Other: Spotify: Emily Scialom