Day 4 — Imperfect, Limerick, Enjambment
Loving all of you
Living a life of self-reflection and humility
Embracing our limitations and impurity
Recognizing our strengths and weaknesses
Learning to treat ourselves with kindness
Being flawed does not compromise our dignity
Day 3 – – Skin, Prose Poetry, Internal Rhyme
Comfortable in one’s skin
Living with Bipolar Disorder is consumed by destructive emotions and psychic pain within a stigmatizing society which compounds the shame. A world where showering the mentally ill with sympathy is mistaken for compassion and empathy. Without a cure in sight, it’s a continued fight to accept the debilitating effects of the disease and the social ramifications of discrimination and violation of human rights. The mentally ill need to be seen as people first beyond the pills.
Public attitudes deeply touch our souls leading our minds to believe that we cannot achieve our life goals. Self-stigma is a force so powerful it needs to be confronted head on so as to not prolong our suffering. Self-acceptance is universal to recovery yet so personal. Learning to love and respect yourself is a long road traveled, a yearning to find peace with who you are in spite of the invisible scars. We do not welcome disease into our lives, but can still thrive despite adversity if we befriend ourselves.
Day Two — Gift, Acrostic, Simile
Gift of life/ health
Harping on the trivial
Everything material
A diagnosis given
Left in a state of fear
Taking life for granted
Hoping for a miracle
Day One — Screen, Haiku, Alliteration
Metaphorical screen of the mind separating adaptive from maladaptive thoughts
Mind chatter overwhelming
Silence and serenity
Befriending one’s thoughts
mentallypoetic 