Tamara Thompson

CHILDREN’S AUTHOR TAMARA THOMPSON TEACHES MENTAL HEALTH IN A FAIRY TALE TO HER FIVE YEAR OLD SON

By Tamara Thompson

Being a mental health advocate, a children's book fairy tale writer, and a Mom is sometimes no easy task. I say this in all honesty, as my Son and all of his life concerns and all of his precious moments, his playtime and his happiness always comes first & foremost. My Tamara Thompson writing always Author and Poet: takes a happyback seat to his learning and growth. Our time together is always treasured, rather than pounding away at the keyboards. Time with my son and watching his delight as he grows is what this mom writer loves to do.

Of course, my story is his story and as my boy is learning all the beautiful wonders of life, the storybooks that I wrote, are a backstory to his growth, his health, and wellness. For me, I am his proud mom, his biggest fan and the first person that he will one day turn to if ever needing a mental health advocate.

The reason for my first book, goes back now many years... it was a kids' book written in 2008 and published two years later in 2010. It is about Mommy Frog who lives in Lilly Pad Pond; where meeting a Prince in a castle, who is a Froggy counselor just three miles up the marsh. He helps Mommy Frog, setting guidelines for her to, overcome depression. Mommy Frog becomes a great chef for all of "Lilly Pad Pond, making fly stew for all to enjoy and savor". In the end she has a heroic tale of hope and awareness in mental health to share with her son Jack. The story is light and fun, with a lot of hopping around as Mommy Frog learns to ease her depression. Personally, this story is truly significant to this mom of a bright, smart, well adjusted, and tender-hearted five-year-old boy.

I suffered greatly in my 20s from Bipolar illness, I almost gave up so many times, pleading night after night to take away these horrific feelings of dread, doubt, and suffering. This seemed to never end, it wouldn't let up, it wouldn't quit, as I prayed for strength, the emotions were wild, it crashed hard most days causing extreme moods of worthlessness, mixed emotions, paranoia, hallucinations would come on suddenly, delusions

were a heavy track playing wickedly in my mind. It went on until my mid-thirties. Bipolar, BOY did this illness sting and man did it bite hard, it gripped its teeth in, and oh dear lord, did it ever have a frightening growl. I prayed for years for God's help in just feeling well again, this practice in prayer was steady for many years. Bipolar at first is fierce, at first it is relentless. For many years, as I just really had but one chance, just one choice and that would be to gain a healthy mindset.

Once I made my mind up, that choice became my destiny, and also it became my family, somehow it became my manifested Legacy. As a writer, we write what we know and well, throughout almost 15 years, all I knew was the struggles of Mental Illness. To tell that story as a kid's fairy tale was my creative sword as I wrote forever, coming up with variations of writing. I learned that if Bioloar was a character though, in a fairy tale, it would have definitely played the villain. I made up my mind to take charge of gaining my positive mindset, I used my pen to make it all happen. I suppose what it means when we hear the saying, "Recovery Is A Choice." My pen became that choice for me, I wrote every day in a journal and I never let it down, pen to paper was my new motto and mojo in life, page by page, however personal, however sad, scared or hurt, after many years, I started to feel well again. I started to notice changes in me, I was learning to let go, I was noticing that the pain and fear were dissipating after years of writing. I became aware of this and more determined than ever to beat bipolar's butt! It was the Dr's that I had in my corner, the different psychiatrist that would gear this method of healing. Visit after visit, from the early onset of the crashes of bipolar, they would say, "Why don't you write?" Listening to Dr's advice and guidance through writing, healed this once a very confused young girl.

I had to learn day by day and second by second how to overcome this overpowering illness, honestly unbearable most days, many days not even really getting out of bed. I feel I overcame so much in my mental health to honor my son. A son that I would pray for but having a terrible time conceiving as Bipolar took center stage. I knew through the pain that the joy of being a mom was still a dream to hold close to my heart. One day a family doctor asked me, "So you want to have a baby?" As I leaned in heavily towards her in the chair and said to the nice Physician, "NO, I want to be a MOM!" Being in my late thirties I was about to lose faith. They believed in me with this and we started working towards a chance for me to be a mom. I was 21 when Bipolar showed up in my life, but I was still a woman, still a young woman, still with all the feminine desires of creating a family. Bipolar though came roaring through my unsteady life, crashing down my chances for a sustainable life, as I fought it fiercely giving it no mercy. When I turned to journal at 21, page by page, I would jot down every bipolar episode. I wrote about every upset, every shedding tear, every torment, all onto pages of writing diaries. Wanting a family was my driving force, not just to have a family, I wanted so deeply to be a loving nurturing Mom. Even though the strifes of bipolar were permanent, scarring, and sometimes more determined than I thought I was. Fighting this illness took up all of my energy, time and my focus was on healing, though I spent my spare time writing, this did heal and my words became my power.

Later on in my healing, in my mid-thirties, I became attracted and curious to the thought paradigms of the LAWS OF ATTRACTION and the different ways of manifesting, visualizing your dreams, wants, and desires. I studied this relentlessly for years, as I wrote more and more about healing. As quickly as Bipolar rushed in to carry me to the depths of an almost skid row, was as quickly as I had an idea to create a fairy tale about my story. To write and publish a book, with years of writing in personal journals behind me. My uplift

and

ideas of this book came soaring in and I welcomed my story to hopefully one day share with the world and with my family and son. I manifested like I never manifested before and believed fully in the power of positive thought, and the law of attraction. I not only wanted to be a mom and have a beautifully healthy family, I secretly had the desire to be an accomplished writer one day. I had to believe in this and in myself first and I had to accept help and guidance from my Doctors in counseling sessions. I then learned to listen and practiced their methods of wellness in every single method of healing that the doctors offered me. To this, there would be no other way to heal, I was glued to the patient's chair as they guided me through therapy. I published my first book called Before You Were Born in 2010, I had my son in 2015. Healing, manifesting, visualizing, self-care, self-love, gaining confidence, believing in myself became my new mindset.

Secretly to myself, I had some personal thoughts and ideas for my own manifesting in writing… I wanted to write my son into my life through the laws of attraction. I told no one as I was sure people would mock this lofty idea right down the toilet. Throughout my years of healing and personal writing reflections.. .my family would be born through a manifested fairy tale, called Before You Were Born.

ONE DAY, I would have a beautiful story of healing to share with my son, offering him his own mental health guidance if he ever did need it. Through my story Before You Were Born, I had visual dreams about teaching my son, about developing strong moral codes and ethics, teaching how to care for his emotions to ride waves. I wanted to teach him not only kindness and proper manners, I wanted to teach him how to develop a healthy mindset, one that could never be affected by the letdowns of mental illness. Mommy Frog from the fairy tale book Before You Were Born, as the heroic character that I created did a great job of exploring this. I realized years later, that if I were to be a mom, I would have to follow my own characters' ways into health and healing. This book somehow manifested just as I secretly sought out to do in my health and wellness, my recovery, and my blessings in having a beautiful son, born in 2015. Now if that doesn't reek of the law of attraction, and dreams coming true to fruition, then I don't know what does?

In 2015 Logan Paul Mann-Thompson was born, I was one month from turning 39, my husband Jason Mann was just turning 42. We met each other late in life, but like I said, I had a lot of healing to master. The tale of my life woke up readily and it seemed to carry on a life of its own, page by page.

My son is five now, with all the eagerness to live life with the biggest and purest heart. Questions came to my mind. When do I express to my fiveyear-old, about Bipolar and all of the ways of healing, so that he knows that he can come to me, with every upset, every hurt, every pain, so that he doesn't have to bottle up any torn inflictions cast upon him throughout life. Just as Mommy Frog had a story to share with her son, I wanted to share it with Logan, but when? How? Is it too soon? Will he be able to grasp healthy habits even when speaking of mental health? I proclaimed that one day, when he was ready... I would share my story, offering him a way to gather strength if ever challenged in the same way. I would be his "Mommy Frog Buddy" if he needed one and I wanted to let him know this.

It was sometime in April 2020, Covid-19 was spreading rapidly, we were as a world sharing in the stories of a pandemic lockdown, as we sit tight to stay home, well and stay safe. Sitting with my son at the kitchen table, both in great spirits, even on a long day of lockdown. We began to speak and connect. Having a few tender heart to hearts through the pandemic, and there it was, the day I dreamed of since I was locked up behind the walls of a psychiatric unit. The talks I was dreaming of since I fell into Bipolars ashes when I was only 21. My son asked a few questions about feelings, and I felt that he was ready for his first talk about health and wellness!

I was surprised, because Logan was completely glued to his seat, intent on listening to my personal triumphant tale of healing. I read him my book already a few times when he was still just two or three, he knew even as a three-year-old that this was "HIS" book. One day at a store, the book Before You Were Born was sitting on a shelf. Logan and I walked past it, Logan pointing out to the book calling it HIS BOOK over and over, in his three-year-old excitement and to his Mom's surprise and filled heart, I knew that he was possibly waiting for me to gain in health and wellness to be born to me. Then that day in April in lockdown, the time presented itself to me to finally divulge in my challenges of having bipolar, a mental illness as I told him that "once I had a broken brain" but I am all better now! Logan seemed glued as my little audience full of wonder like I was a character on one of his favorite YouTube gaming channels.

What occurred then was fantastic, and a memory that I will forever cherish. Every time I began my real to the life fairy tale, Logan would jump up and dash out of the kitchen, each time I began he would interrupt and stop me in mid-sentence. "MOM HOLD ON, WAIT" as he scurried out of the kitchen. He said to me, calling out from his toy room, "We need an audience", he said delightfully. Logan then comes back with a stuffed toy, he says to me; "OK Mom, you have an audience, tell me the story." I began my sharing again. It is hard on parents and caregivers of a young five (or so) -year-olds to speak about some of the harsh realities in life. As parents we often wonder, when is there a good time to teach about safety, or the more dangerous realities in life?

Again, just as I'm in mid-sentence, "HOLD ON MOM", you need an audience! Logan storms out, gathering more stuffed toys to sit and listen to storytime. As I shared Mommy Frogs' adventure into health, my story of hope, and how I really did have him in mind when I first began to create with writing, working so hard to one day be well again. He must have had 15 stuffed animals sitting upright on the table as I prepared to deliver my carefully developed mental health story that had a happy ending of him, my son, who now sits before me with 15 stuffed toys as my best audience to date. I will always remember that the pains from mental illness are real, and fighting it is hard! Accepting it even harder, it is not easy to accept nor understand even for the ones that suffer. Though that day, my son got it, the message, the meaning of acceptance was given to us that day and a grateful heart for having a child with a wondrous soul. Logan as the perfect audience that he is, sitting with his 15 plushies, decided that he had a few questions, like "How did you break your brain, Mommy?" I tell him, "Since you, it's not broken anymore, having you Logan fixed it."

Not only did I hurtle past Bipolar, in a constant state of motion, I was still riding the waves, with some good days, and some bad days. I followed my character Mommy Frog's story as if it was my own, and realized that it was my own. I owned that story with full conviction to conceive one day, to have a family of my own. Manifesting, visualizing, praying, begging, pleading became my favorite pastime.

I Promised myself that if I could gain mental health, that I would protect my family from the strife of mental illness through storytelling. Only so that my child would be able to live happily ever after. With the 15 stuffed toys and my son as my audience that day, I think we did just that!

Before You Were Born and other titles by Tamara Thompson’s can be found on Amazon, Chapters/Indigo and Barnes and Noble Published by Chipmunka Publishing an England based mental health publisher’s (published as a book in 2010) Chipmunka Publishing is now a self-publishing agency.

Titles by the Author

• • • • • • Before You Were Born Happy Birthday Jack Busy With Bee I Dream In Poetry The Forwards Poems of a Codependant --------------------------------------Tamara can be reached @ i. Blog Your Business Tamara can be hired as a High School-Speaker and Podcast Host.