This is the second installment of a special edition of Lily Lines featuring comics from our archive. Subscribe to get future editions here.

As part of Team Lily, I’ve had the opportunity to write about two topics that make me feel vulnerable but are extremely rewarding to talk about: having herpes and living with chronic anxiety. I hope I can play a small part in normalizing both by pushing the conversation forward.

Talking about my experience with anxiety, in particular, helps me cope and feel less alone. In 2018, I wrote about discovering I was suffering from anxiety after I ended up in the hospital because of high blood pressure. And earlier this year, I reflected on my relationship to anxiety and how it’s changed over the last several years.

As The Lily’s comics editor, helping other people share their experiences with their mental health also helps me, whether it’s Katie Wheeler on how she copes with the news cycle or Christine Suggs explaining how they are trying to overcome that voice in their head telling them they aren’t good enough. (I’m all too familiar with that voice.)

I feel really grateful to be able to work with so many comic artists who trust me to share their stories with The Lily. These topics can be tough to live through, difficult to articulate and even scarier to share with the Internet.

I would love to hear from you about a comic that resonated with you or if you’re a comic artist who would like to work with us.