Shades: Living with Mental Illness

Where is normal?

Nikki Langdon has spent her whole life trying to find normal.

At a time when mental illness was strongly stigmatized, Nikki tried to be perfectly normal-the perfect daughter, the perfect dancer, the perfect wife who raised a perfect family-all the while facing the demon in her living room that held her hostage.

After a long journey, Nikki was finally able to begin her journey toward wellness, but wellness wasn't an easy road. Through her lifetime, Nikki has faced the triumphs and losses that come from going to war with an unwell brain.

Shades of darkness haunt every corner of her life. Are they taking over again? What is real and what is an ill brain's creation? It isn't always easy to tell. In this vulnerable, honest memoir, Nikki shares her journey through the muddled shades that make up illness and wellness. Readers will be pulled into her authentic narrative, and those who have experience with chronic illness will undoubtedly relate as they laugh, cry, and worry alongside Nikki.