Welcome back friend! As promised here is another installment of creative writing for May’s mental health month. These creative writings are a mental health coping strategy; my way of aiding you and me to effectively process mental health. Oh, and if you are new here, welcome home! You haven’t missed anything that can’t be caught up on. 😉
As I stated in my previous post, I find it difficult to effectively manage stress and/or my emotions at times. A good self-care routine is important for this very reason. And I have lots of aids in my toolbox of self-care: exercise, therapy, yoga, sleep, quiet time, etc.. But sometimes. . . . after all of those tools have been exhausted I still have difficulty gathering my feelings into the right words. And if you’re number 6 like me (I’m talking Enneagram here) then you NEED to know the right words to describe how you are feeling. This is typically when inspiration strikes and I grab my pen and paper (or lets be honest…it’s usually a phone! LOL!) and words begin pouring out of my fingertips. Five to ten minutes later, I have a new piece of poetry and my shoulders feel lighter and my head is clearer.
If you aren’t quite comfortable writing, no worries! Read through this series and have a little quiet time. You might just walk away feeling lighter.
Burning Solstice
I can see sparks trying to take flight
Each faint glimmer reaching
And stretching towards life
They've been drowning for so long
If they could ony take just one drink of oxygen
Wait
Now they've banded together
Each spark fighting more and more
Reaching together
Trying to break through
Finally
Air
I can feel a warmth starting to come over me
The sparks have grown into a small fire
Ever so gently thawing the cold earth
But still fighting for more air
I feed the fire
Giving it more room to breathe
Feeding each flame
Allowing it to grow and explore
The flames are getting higher
Stronger
I feel it growing hotter
If I leave it alone there will be nothing left
But a scorched earth
I try to fight it as it tries to take over
The fire is burning
Flames trying so much harder
To reach the sky
I have to contain it
Everything has to stay the same
The fire could ruin it all
I know new beginnings grow from the ashes
But what if they don't
Hurry
The flames are spreading like wildfire
Extinguish
The Earth can take no more
The sky is suffocating
And finally
Relief
The rain comes
and drowns the fire
Flame by flame
Quickly it dies
Is it really dead
Will the ashes turn cold and grey
The embers finally fade
Stillness
But wait
A single glint among the ashes
So I’m glad you came and I hope this series helps put words to your feelings or helps you better understand some stresses you may be going through. Of course, I have my own emotions and thoughts that come up when I go back and read some of the pieces I’ve written.
For instance, “Burning Solstice” was written to describe the internal battle I have to pursue a passion/hobby and the head-space that I often get in that feeds me failure and disappointment.
You may feel something completely different and that’s okay, too! The goal here is to share in the effort that the next person can relate or put to words his or her own struggles.
I always love hearing from you so don’t forget to drop me a comment or “hello” below then jump over to Facebook and Instagram to join the Bourbon Cactus community.
Pin now for inspiration later!
