Carrie Fisher, RIP…

I was very fortunate to see Carrie Fisher perform her solo show Wishing Drinking in Boston (full show below). My friend and I laughed so hard through the whole thing. I had been a fan of hers since seeing Star Wars as a child, but it was her work as a mental health advocate and comedic writer that really inspired me as a young adult when I was working in television and film. Her ruthless honesty and self-deprecating wit were unparalleled. Her candid mental health advocacy was trailblazing (one of her quotes: “I am mentally ill. I can say that. I am not ashamed of that. I survived that, I’m still surviving it, but bring it on. Better me than you.”). I drew inspiration from her brave example of discussing mental illness without stigma or shame when I began my work with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in the United States (running a program to destigmatize mental illness in high schools), and more recently while raising mental health awareness in high schools and universities in the Middle East. I feel so sad by her untimely death, but also renewed in my desire to live with honesty, empathy, and wit — and without shame, judgment, and fear. Most of all, I feel reinvigorated to live a a life infused with humor and dedicated to helping to alleviate the suffering of those who are struggling with mental health around the world.