The Mental Health Collection
Since 2015, I have dreaded October.
No specific life moment, memory, or feeling has caused this. I just noticed when I was in college that October was really tough for me. It is always this time of year when the anxiety attacks peak, I think everyone hates me and all I want to do is spend all day in bed curled into a ball watching some comfortable TV. My anxiety attacks would last days instead of hours, and I truly felt like the world hated me.
Ironically World Mental Health Day falls in October.
I have been pretty open about one of the major reasons I love SJM’s books is how she handles mental health. It is clear when you read books like Heir of Fire, A Court of Mist and Fury, House of Earth and Blood, and A Court of Silver Flames that Sarah is incredible at showing mental health struggles.
The other thing that was important to me was to give back to organizations that help women. If there is one important thing I have learned this year it is that one of the best driving forces for the community isn’t just sharing the things we like (I mean it helps) but it is coming together to give back. If I am going, to be honest this is something I have wanted to do since the beginning but I was waiting for the right moment.
Below is each design and the story behind each quote and organization. All of these sweatshirts will be available at $40 each on 10/10 at 1pm EST.
AELIN’S MENTAL HEALTH SWEATSHIRT
“You will make mistakes. You will make decisions. And sometimes you will regret those choices. Sometimes there won’t be a right choice. Just the best of several bad options. I don’t need to tell you that you can do this-you know you can. I wouldn’t have sworn the oath to you if I didn’t think you could.”
I bet it surprises none of you that I picked this quote first. I remember one day I was having a really rough day and picked up Queen of Shadows when I came across this quote and it was exactly what I needed to hear. At that moment I was between two awful decisions and there was no clear silver lining. And as someone who has anxiety and wants everything to be perfect, it was important to remind me that sometimes there aren’t right choices…just the best of several bad options.
Organization: https://seekher.org
Seek Her is a foundation that seeks to bridge the gender gap of mental health through advocacy, research, and support for leaders who are helping women through critical transitions & vulnerable life moments along their womanhood journey.
Seek Her was the perfect foundation and organization for not only representing Aelin but the other women of Throne of Glass. It only felt appropriate to select an organization that understood the mental journey women go on throughout the different stages of their life.
FEYRE MENTAL HEALTH SWEATSHIRT
“I would not be weak again. I would not be dependent on anyone else. I would never have to endure the touch of the Attor as it dragged me because I was too helpless to know where and how to hit. Never again.”
Feyre was probably the hardest one for me to find as I wanted it to be perfect for people who relate to Feyre. So I spoke with some ladies I knew who told me they related the most to Feyre and shared some quotes with them. It was clear from our conversations this was the perfect one. Feyre was also tricky because I wanted to find an organization that represented her struggle with depression and PTSD from the original trilogy but that also aligned with Bryce so I went a different route.
(Also random fun design fact: the font on Feyre and Nesta’s sweatshirts is the font from the new ACOTAR Books. I do my best sleuthing for perfection lol)
Organization: https://everymothercounts.org
Every Mother Counts’ mission is to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother, everywhere.
When it came time to pick a foundation to represent Feyre there were so many amazing options however I really wanted to highlight Feyre’s journey as a mother. One very unique thing about Feyre compared to the other women is that she is a mother. It also felt appropriate to pick an organization looking into safe childbirth for…obvious reasons.
BRYCE MENTAL HEALTH SWEATSHIRT
That’s the point of it. Bryce. Of life. To live. To love. Knowing that it might all vanish tomorrow. It makes everything that much more precious.
For dear old Bryce, I went to two women who I knew related to Bryce more than anything…and both of them picked this quote. It was a pretty easy process for this one (all I did was use the Crescent City font, a really cool moon graphic and it was perfect)
Organization: https://www.empoweringher.org/
empowerHER® is a nonprofit organization on a mission to empower, support + connect girls and young women who have lost their mothers.
While Bryce did not lose her mother, she did go through an intense grieving process that I felt was important to support and highlight. To honor her journey and the close friendship Bryce shared with Danika, we hope some of these funds for this sweatshirt will help a young women through the process of losing a parent.
NESTA MENTAL HEALTH SWEATSHIRT
“I’ll be with you every step of the way. Just don’t lock me out. You want to walk in silence for a week, I’m fine with that. So long as you talk to me at the end of it”
Finding Nesta’s quote for me came from one thing: picking a quote from her climbing the mountain with Cassian.
Many of you know that I don’t cry normally. I think I can count on one hand how many times I have cried in the last 4 years. So when I read ACOSF and saw how Nesta dealt with her emotions and response it was like looking into a very accurate mirror.
When I read the chapters about her hiking that mountain with Cassian, it was like seeing into my psyche. I have had those conversations with myself, I have experienced those emotions and I wanted this sweatshirt to represent those emotions. In fact there is a moment when Cassian says something like “he’s waiting for her to explode” and I laughed out loud because I have heard people say the same thing about me.
It’s…creepy how accurate Sarah got it right.
So this quote was selected to remind anyone like me or Nesta that we can’t hold it in and that we need to express ourselves.
Organization: https://sherecovers.org/about-the-foundation/
The SHE RECOVERS FOUNDATION is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity with a growing and evolving community currently consisting of more than 325,000 women in or seeking recovery from substance use disorders, other behavioral health issues and/or life challenges
Picking a foundation for Nesta came down to one thing: funding an organization that helped with substance abuse. As many of us who read A Court of Silver flames saw, Nesta was beginning the detox stage of a very intense substance abuse problem. I am so excited to select this organization as it has a ton of resources for these women.
This collection will be available beginning 10/10 at $40 a sweatshirt.
Thank you again for supporting this collection and here is to more charity collections in the future!
x.
Sarah
