Synopsis "Finding Beauty in the Darkness: A Healing Journey"
How do I deal with Depression? How do I live with it without letting it dominate my life? Am I strong enough to own my pain and acknowledge my darkness? Will that even help me? These are the questions I continually asked myself. As I attempted to answer these questions, I began writing poetry as a way to channel all of my feelings. Opening old wounds and staring this disease in the face is not easy, but it was necessary for me. Once I started writing I could not stop. Words wanted to come out and I let them - words about scars, feelings, experiences and pain that have defined my life. Most of them were written through streams of tears, yet they ultimately brought me new hope. No one in my life has experienced this disease, making it hard for them to understand the isolation and helplessness I feel, so I wrote the poems for myself. I stripped myself bare, fearfully reliving how Depression has impacted my life, and beginning to understand and accept that it will always be a part of me, but it doesn't have to define me. When I realized the sheer number of poems that had resulted from this process, I thought I should share them with others who feel alone in their emotional pain. The poems are loosely designed to flow from my experiences in the deepest of the darkness to my immense struggles to overcome it and find a way out and, finally, to a section about the fragility of healing and recovery. I know I, as you, will continue to struggle with this demon for the rest of my life, and while I am hopeful that my recovery will continue, I now know that when it knocks me down again, I can find the strength to get back up. I hope you can find some of yourself and your own experiences reflected in these words. Let them resonate in you and inspire you to take the first step down your own path toward healing.
