Poetry to heal

Poetry to so many seems like just pretty words put together with rhymes, but it is so much more than that. It is a form of expression. It is how we can make sense of the world around us and the pain and pleasures we experience in this life we live.

When I write my poetry, it springs to my mind and I simply have to get it down on paper. It's not something that I just go....oh, today I'm going to sit and write a poem about this. Poetry is inspired. I am inspired when I've had a particularly hard day with the children. When I'm feeling really down, when I'm feeling super pumped and when I'm feeling altogether confused. It has a way of calming my thinking and allowing me to ask myself questions.

It allows me to change my story if I don't like the ending I have given it. More importantly it allows me to share those feelings I have within with others. My poems can often be exposing and I have spent so many years not sharing these types of poems with others. Now that I have begun to share them, the feedback that I have gotten, is how much people can relate to what I've written. Knowing that my writing has made someone else not feel so alone in their feelings is a great comfort and it's also been a comfort knowing that it isn't just me out there that has these big feelings.

If you struggle to express yourself to others, try and write it down instead, try and collect words and feelings together and create your own poem. I've had so many people say to me in the past that they can't write poetry and I believe that is absolute tosh, anyone can write poetry; it is simply putting what's in your heart into words, sometimes it needs a gentle nudge, but we are all capable.

Everyone's writing style is a little different, just as we, as individuals are different. I would love to share with you a poem I wrote when I was feeling particularly down. A lot of my poems can start off negative and end with a feeling of hope. This particular poem was written during a depressive episode.

The see-saw

Up down go my emotions,

Up down goes my good mood,

Up down goes my waist size,

Depending on my relationship to food.

Up down goes my self-belief,

Up down my reasons live,

Up down goes my self love,

And the amount of fucks to give.

I know its pretty dark, but why should poetry be like a social media highlights reel? We are not going to feel on top of the world all of the time and hiding that part of ourselves, is hiding all of who we are. The good and the bad. Allow poetry to show you all the different versions of yourself and then share those versions with others too and let them bask in the wonder of you!