By Aditi Anvita | Featured Contributor
Amazing buildup of affection,
She is an iconic vigor,
Competes with bitter world,
To affirm her existence.
Owns the wings of courage,
Aspires to touch horizon,
Smashes stereotypes,
Eludes the cage of society.
By Birdie Fudge | Featured Contributor
A while back, I went on medication for the first time for my major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety. I wrote poems every day, starting from the first day I took the pill. I used my poetry to track my mood and the timeline of the medicine taking effect. When I look at the poetry written during the beginning of that journey and compare it to now, it’s as if two different people are speaking. This poem reflects me in the beginning of my journey. My other poem, “I am Grateful,” reflects how I feel today.
***
It’s like suddenly
I took this magic pill
and I was given the gift of reason
and all my fears seemed to disappear
my anxieties subsided
or at least they were dulled out
beneath the surface
the layer of fog
on top of all my other emotions
became lifted
By Cara Amy Goldthorpe | Featured Contributor
Protect the soils:
soils from which
new life grows
life to sustain us
with its nourishing blooms
till we return to the earth
to begin
another cycle
By Kathy Ha | Featured Contributor
Overthinking and overanalyzing is a common problem with anxiety sufferers. The mind likes to run in endless loops of worthless conjecture, questioning, dissecting and criticizing every decision and response. It becomes a hardwired obsessive behavior that leaves the person physically exhausted and emotionally drained. Without intervention and retraining of the mind, life can feel like an insurmountable hurdle.
By Cliff Eshom | Featured Contributor
Can blessings of life truly be free?
Sunshine, flowers, the shade of a tree.
Finding true love, is one of the keys.
Listening to ads, they’re only a tease,
tempting your flesh falsely to please
a portrait of life, seek only of ease.
By Evelyn Jervey Willburn | Featured Contributor
Looking back, I would say that the first time I became depressed was when I entered fourth grade. That year, my class was divided into two groups, and I found myself separated from all my previous year’s playmates. I didn’t bounce back: that year started my long, mostly self-imposed exile at school. At recess, I paced the perimeter of the playground, and as I moved up through the grades, I effectively rendered myself invisible. The occasional thoughtless comment that came my way from some popular kid became my excuse for further isolation. Once in seventh grade I went to see the school counselor, and she showed me a poster on her wall. In the poster, a group of cartoon hippos were piling into a small boat, threatening to swamp it. The caption read, “More is not always better.” That message stayed with me, in the background, but it was many years before I really understood it or was able to assimilate it into my worldview.
Continue reading “In Which I Face Down Depression and Gain the Upper Hand”
By Marija Eljuga | Featured Contributor
Most of us find it hard to eat less than we would want to, experiencing constant craving for more food or kind of food that we are struggling to separate ourselves from. How unhappy does this make us feel? Then when we give in to our cravings, we feel self-reproach, self-loathing, shame, guilt. What a nightmare of our daily experience?! When we ‘manage’ to deny ourselves, working so hard to lose some weight, our body and our mind do not forget. In sensing, feeling and thinking we ‘know’ that we have denied ourselves; the pleasure of eating what we want, is our due. Before long, we make it up to ourselves; one way or another. The weight is back on…, or some other diversion equally remorseful. A constant cycle of harm/discomfort and defense against it. Constantly unhappy, constantly in a struggle. Wonder if there is another way?
