Creating the world of Harry Potter was J K Rowling’s way of coping with clinical depression set on by circumstances in her life that left her empty and feeling hopeless. She had complicated teenage years dealing with her mother’s illness and having a strained relationship with her father. She was unhappy with her mediocre jobs and started writing the story that would change her life. Yet that would still be a long way off and life was still a struggle.

Her mother’s death brought a darker tone to the books, where she channeled her sorrow and feeling of loss by writing about Harry’s own feeling of loss in greater detail in her first book. She moved to Portugal teaching English as a foreign language. A marriage to a television journalist in Portugal descended into loneliness as she had her first child and struggled with the marriage. She continued to write. Dealing with domestic abuse, having her newborn daughter in tow, she separated from her husband and moved near her sister in Scotland to become a single mother, struggling to survive, take care of her daughter, and write.

During all this, Rowling was diagnosed with clinical depression and contemplated suicide. Her illness inspired the “Dementor” characters, which were described in the book “Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them.” She had used her illness to inspire her creativity. She lived on government assistance, and continued to write. What she had started in 1990 was finished in 1995 yet it wouldn’t be published for another 2 years.

From there her success has propelled her into a super elite group of writers and wealth. For all that she had gained she still never forgot her struggles and continues to give back to the world establishing the Volant Charitable Trust, which combats poverty and social inequality, and helps families with Multiple Sclerosis, the disease that eventually took her mother from her. She also chairs multiple charities like LUMOS works to support the 8 million children in institutions worldwide to regain their right to a family life and to end the institutionalization of children, and is constantly involved in giving of herself and creative works for auctions to raise money. She has struggled with mental illness, persevered, and found success. J K Rowling’s story is filled with inspiration and continues to inspire.