About

Who is Leigh?

(You know…in case you’re curious. If you’re not, just skip this. I won’t know).

If you’re still here, hello, human! I’m Leigh Burniston. I am a young writer currently attending college for a BFA in Creative Writing. I love cats, Disney, sugar, and stories. And, if you can’t already tell, I’m a big yapper. The next fifteen minutes of reading will just be me talking to you. Run while you can.

And speaking of me, what’s important for you to know? First things first, I’m a strong Catholic, and I bring my faith into all my writing. I won’t preach at you – I’ve not met a single person who converted because a Christian hit them over the head with a Bible and ordered them too. However, all of my writing carries elements I’ve learned from my faith: hope, love, loyalty, and truth. If basic virtues insult you…well, there ain’t much I can do for you, my sibling in Christ.

The second thing that’s probably important is my life story. Most authors share that at some point, don’t they? No? Well, you’re still going to get mine.

I was born where I was born, which is not information you need to know, and we moved several times. Finally, right around the time of The Great Pandemic, my family settled down in the same state where I’m attending college. Around the same time we reached our current home, I began writing seriously. I’d always been a daydreamer, but now I was focusing my attention on creating something publishable. I wanted to see my name on a book cover.

Looking back on it, most of my writing did not meet the publishing standard. Still, I persevered! I joined The Young Writer’s Workshop, a FANTASTIC resource for young writers, and the community there encouraged me as I continued in my writing journey.

Now we get to the…ehm…not-so-fun part of my story. I’m going to preface this with 1) trigger warnings for mental illness, and 2) the fact that I realize this will sound dramatic. You’re probably going to wonder why I’m sharing this information about myself. My answer is this: I know I’m not the only one going through this stuff. And when you’re struggling with an issue, any issue, you tend to feel like you’re alone. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me when I learned that other people lived through the same experiences I did, and so I’m putting this information out there. Anyone can see it, and that sure as heck doesn’t make me comfortable.

But it might bring them, those unnamed people who feel like they’re the only ones suffering, a little peace. So, welcome, human! Step into my world of mental illness.

I’d had anxiety for practically as long as I could remember. I struggled with stifling Emetophobia (fear of throwing up) all throughout my childhood. I went to my first therapist, and the issue followed me all the way to high school. Then, in 2022, I got hit with another wave of problems. This time, it was Obsessive-Compulsive Disorde, and it honed in on my faith. For almost a year, I dealt with both Emetophobia and crippling scrupulosity.

I went to Confession every week, sometimes twice a week. I cried nearly every day for months because I couldn’t figure out how to function without feeling like I was sinning. I pulled into myself, interacted less with those around me, and performed stupid compulsions (such as pinning my t-shirts with cloths-pins to make them more ‘modest’) in order to feel pure. I didn’t think I’d ever get out of the loop I seemed to be stuck in, and honestly, I was too scared to really try.

It took months of talking with people I trusted, fighting against what seemed to be the most logical portion of my mind, before I was able to regain some semblance of a normal life. I still struggled occasionally, but I overcame the scrupulosity.

I had beaten my OCD. Right?

Wrong, as I found out a few years later. Remember that anxiety I mentioned earlier? Turns out it wasn’t just anxiety. It was also Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, only focused on Emetophobia instead of scrupulosity. And this Emetophobia reared its head with a vengeance after I caught a stomach bug one Christmas and threw up for the first time in years.

This returning flood of Emetophobia (which had never really gone away, but had faded into the background in the previous years) shook my entire world. Once again, I had no clue how to function. I’d believed I’d beaten the fear, and now it was so strong that I was basically living in an anxiety attack. I like the way my mom described it at the time, so I’m going to steal her analysis. You know (or can at least imagine) how claustrophobes feel when they’re stuck in an enclosed space, right? How would they remove that fear? They’d leave the space, wouldn’t they?

Well, I was stuck in my own enclosed space. Only I couldn’t leave, so the fear never went away.

After about a month of hardly leaving my house, I quit my job. I just couldn’t do it, it made me so anxious. My doctor put me on medication. Then, after a few more months, I found an OCD therapist. We did exposure therapy – basically, I simulated or exposed myself to a bunch of my worst fears in order to make me better.

It took a long time. The healing process wasn’t quick. And during that time, I remained mostly sheltered at home, confronting so many fears but refusing to take that step out into the world.

But…eventually, the therapy worked. I did it. I’m in college now, and I’m mostly normal. I’ll never be completely rid of my OCD, but I can live life. That’s something I honestly couldn’t see myself doing for a long time. And this, this paragraph right here, is why I made you read through my entire mental health journey. Because I’m not the only one who has gone, or is going, through something like this. And while I was struggling, one of the most comforting things to hear was that there were others like me who had made it through.

So, for all of my neurodivergent siblings out there – I did it. I’m still doing it, ever day. It’s going to be hard on some days, and it’s going to be easy on others. But it’s not impossible, and you will be okay.

For those of you who are still questioning it, here’s a fun little comparison. The picture on the left was actually taken during an anxiety attack in those first few months. The picture on the right is me during my first few weeks of college, actually doing all of the things I had been so afraid of.

Now. I hope we all understand each other a little better, and that I didn’t bore you too much with details. Are there any other important things about me?

Honestly…I don’t think so? I think that’s it. The rest of the information is on the other pages. Go explore! I hope you enjoy the website. I totally didn’t create it while procrastinating on a writing project or anything…

Anyways. Thanks for sticking with me!

God bless,

-Leigh