Tag: messy ties

Mental Health

Just recently it was national mental health awareness day. I know that when people think of health they think of physical health, but rarely do people think of mental health. In fact, I feel like mental health is a subject matter a lot of people do not talk about or try to avoid as it feels “forbidden” or “bad” to talk about it. I know a lot of people struggle to talk about problems they have with their mental health because of this “stigma” surrounding it. Firstly, we need to get rid of this stigma around mental health. Secondly, I feel like it is something we should take care of above physical health. Yes, physical health is important, but so is mental health. If we are not mentally well then how do we take care of ourselves physically? That brings me to my first quote of this post by Mel Robbins who says “Your mental health is everything – prioritize it. Make the time like your life that depends on it, because it does.” In other words, it is exactly what I was saying before… mental health is super important and our life literally depends on it!

Like I said before we all at some point struggle with our mental health. Even athletes like Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka have been open about their personal struggles. I normally do not like talking about my personal struggles either, but I have been open and honest with people about it. It is a tricky and difficult topic to navigate because where do we start when we talk about mental health? The truth is that we do not always know when someone else is struggling unless they tell us themselves. It is not like we are trying to be selfish, but for the most part we have to do things for ourselves first and foremost. I think this next quote explains it the best. L. R. Knost says “Taking care of myself doesn’t mean ‘me first’, it means ‘me too.'” It is like we are worried about others and taking care of them (I know that I worry about that myself), but at the end of the day we have to take care of ourselves too. I can make this post super long, but I will stop here. I hope that you all remember to take care of yourselves, including your mental health and enjoy the following visual poem that I wrote about this subject. Take care!!

“Survival” visual poem.

Traveling/Going to Paradise

Of course one of the first things that pops into my head when I think of this subject is Demi Lovato’s song “Cool for the Summer” when she sings “Take me down into your paradise…” I think traveling and going to paradise are similar because when we travel it is like we are going to paradise. I have probably talked about traveling before, but in this post I will probably talk about it again. It is especially something to talk about since summer is winding down and I know we all take vacations/travel during this time of the year before we start school or whatever it is we do in the real world. It is the way we live and that brings me to the first quote of this post which I believe is self explanatory. “To travel is to live.” In other words we travel in order to live life. That is why traveling is important.

We usually take the time to rest our minds and bodies. That brings me to this next quote. “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” In other words, we think of travel as a way to escape life, but it is the other way around. It is so life does not escape us because if we do not travel life will pass us by in a blur and we would miss out on so much. It is why we have to take care of ourselves. I will conclude by sharing the following visual poem and one last quote. “Paradise is not a place, it’s a state of mind.” People think of paradise as a place but that is not always the case. I can go on and on about this but this is a good spot to end. I hope you all enjoy the following poem. Cheers and let it take you to paradise!

Visual poem titled “Going to Paradise.” Image copyright by Elena Waller.

Strangers

First off, I want to apologize for not writing here for a long time. Has it really been over a month? Time has gone by so quickly. Now that part is out of the way… lets dive in. When people come into your life they start off as strangers. That leads me in to my very first quote of this post. “We all start as strangers.” Some people eventually become more than that. Some of them are simply just strangers. This post is about those people. There are also people who start off as strangers then become something more and then go back to being strangers again. This post is about those people too.

I do not want to keep this post too long, but I sometimes feel like strangers know you better than those closest to you. Of course this is not always the case, but that is what my poem in this post is all about. That is what this next quote explains too. Yeah Raeder says “There are moments, when you’re getting to know someone, when you realize something deep and buried in you is deep and buried in them too. It feels like meeting a stranger you’ve known your whole life.” That is why when we meet a stranger it feels like we already know them.

Before we get into the poem let me conclude with one final quote. June Jordan says “I am a stranger, learning to love the strangers around me.” So in other words we are all strangers and we need to learn to love those around us. That is the best thing we can do… show love to everyone, even to strangers because everyone could use at least a little love and compassion. Anyways… I hope you enjoy the following poem.

More Than Strangers

Maybe this is all just a nightmare,
On repeat, but I cannot help it
With the way he always stares
At me like he knows we fit
So perfectly together. Maybe
We knew each other from some
Other life, but in this one he
Is some stranger with his thumb
On the control button. We both
Admit to having chemistry no one
Could understand. I made an oath
And an absolute promise to never run
Away from all the feelings I would
Always keep bottled up. Maybe in
This life he knows what we could
Have had and the road we have been
Driving on has led us to be something
More than just strangers. We are more
Than people who have been numbing
The pain and shutting the wide-open door
 On people who continue to hurt us every
Single time. Maybe he came in to repair
Something that was feeling like treachery
Or betrayal in my heart. With no more air
Left to breathe he was the air and breath
I needed to survive. So, while he might
Be a stranger he kept me away from death’s
Door as this would no longer be my last fight.
In a world with so much hate, anger and
Darkness he became my new homeland.

Feeling Alone/Loneliness

The feeling of being alone or loneliness is one of the worst things we can feel. That leads me to my first quote of this post by Mother Teresa. She says “The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” I think that quote is pretty self explanatory. Sometimes being alone can be a good thing too. It depends situation to situation and person to person. On the flip side loneliness could be a good thing. This next quote is from one of my personal heroes Mandy Hale. She says “A season of loneliness and isolation is when the caterpillar gets its wings. Remember that next time you feel alone.” As I will say later on in this post, being alone is a good thing because it really teaches you about yourself and you learn how to grow on your own.

We could be one of the happiest people and be surrounded by lots of people, but we could still feel alone. The worst feeling is when you have so much to share, but then you realize that you have no one to share it with. That is what this post and poem is all about. That brings me to the following quote. Teal Swan says “In fact, the most painful kind of loneliness is the loneliness that persists, even in a crowded room.” It is like what I was saying before because we can be in a crowded room but we can still feel loneliness. This is a subject that I can go on and on about.

Just a heads up that this is an old poem so therefore it is an old situation I’ve been through. There are some days in which I do feel alone, but I feel like that is perfectly normal. I think when we are alone is when we get to know ourselves the best and it’s what makes us the strongest too. That leads me to another quote. This one is by Janet Fitch who says “Loneliness is the human condition. No one is ever going to fill that space. The best you can do is know yourself; know what you want.” She is basically saying that you should take the time to know yourself and what you want, especially in those moments in which you feel loneliness which is something we all experience at one point or another.

I know that this is a long post, but I am going to follow up with one last final quote which also serves as a reminder for us all.

Emma Xu says “If you are feeling lonely know that you’ll always have:

Books to nurture your soul

Hands to create and explore

Wind to calm your soul

Breathes to soothe your nerves

Nature to soak your worries away

Stars to decorate your dreams

So I hope that everyone can use the above quote to remind themselves that there are plenty of things around us and within ourselves even when we feel alone. I hope that everyone enjoys the following poem and remember that sometimes it is perfectly okay to feel alone. Cheers!!!!

When Loneliness Takes Over

Every day she puts on a brave smile,
But no one notices the loneliness she
Feels steeping into her bones late at
Night when there is no one else to talk
To. Every day it always the same cycle
Over and over again like a dishwasher
Or washing machine that will not stop
Running. No one realizes she misses
Someone who will hold her tight and
Keep the bad nightmares away. She
Laughs but no one is there to laugh
At her silly and corny jokes. No one
Is there to come home to and vent to
About her bad day at work. No one is
There to love and to have for the rest
Of her days. People come and go, but
No one stays long enough to ask if she
Is really okay, past all the smiles and
The tears she keeps trying to hold in.
Her loneliness is at the bottom of the
Glass as she is drinking away the pain
And sorrow she feels in the pit of her
Stomach. No one sees the loneliness
In her eyes that used to shine with so
Much brightness and hope. She never
Wanted to feel pity from others, just
Understanding that it a cold and lonely
World sometimes. She looks into the
Mirror and I look right back at her.

Life Is a Journey and Having Your Own Path

Life takes us in many different directions. Up, down, and side to side. It kind of reminds me of a roller coaster because it never quite goes linear or straight. That is why I feel like life is a journey. And a lot of the time we have to take the journey all on our own. That is what this post is all about. Not about what that journey is like, but about taking it alone and making our own path. We should all know by now that life is a journey and we should not expect everyone to understand it, let alone travel it. That brings me to my very first quote of this post. “Don’t expect anyone to understand your journey, especially if they’ve never walked your path.” So in other words, do not let others dictate your journey or walk your path, especially if they have never been where you have been. It works the other way around too. Do not judge anyone for the journey or path they have taken.

Sometimes people are meant to walk the same path together, whether it is best friends, co-workers, romantic partners, etc. But a lot of the time your paths diverge and then you are not walking down the same path anymore. Guess what? That is perfectly fine because you and that person may realize that you want different things in life. In that case all you can do is to wish them the best and move on by forging your own path. That leads me to my very next quote which says the following. “Everyone has their own path. Walk yours with integrity and wish all others peace on their journey. When your paths merge, rejoice for their presence in your life. When the paths are separated, return to the wholeness of yourself, give thanks for the footprints left on your soul, and embrace the time to journey on your own.” In other words, be appreciative for the people who you met along the way, but do not be afraid to go your own way, with or without them.

I want to conclude this post by saying that we can all choose our paths, both the good and the bad. That does not mean that we have to stop wishing the best for someone else’s journey. We can still choose to be someone’s cheerleader even if it is from a distance. I never intentionally choose to wish someone the worst or wish them any bad luck or see them suffer because that is just not who I am. The following poems can really speak for themselves because I feel like I do not need to give any sort of backstory to them or anything. I know that you all will get its intention. Enjoy!!!!

Photo credit: amidamaru900 (Instagram)

Down Different Roads

We will pass the night sky like shooting
Stars as I wish we could be together in
Our next life. I always find myself rooting
For your happiness because living in sin
And sadness is never what I wanted for
You. I never wanted to see you suffer or
Beg for something you were never meant
To lose. Love. Happiness and life passing
By in slow motion. We should have spent
This time loving each other and grasping
Hands before it was all gone in a whisper
Of smoke. Clouds part and what became
Crystal clear was that you were the kisser
Of my wounds, but never doused a flame
In my heart that was about to explode.
In the end we went down different roads.

Visual poem titled “Life’s Choices.”

Sky

The sky… we all see it every single day, yet it is something we tend to forget about just as easily. There is so much the sky teaches us and the main thing it teaches us is to appreciate its beauty. This brings me to my first quote of this post by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He says, “The sky is the ultimate art gallery just above us.” In other words, Emerson is comparing the sky to a piece of art or all pieces of art in an art gallery. That gives us more of a reason to appreciate the sky every day. That is why I like sunrises and sunsets especially. They teach me to appreciate the life I am grateful enough to live. I could go on and on but I will conclude this post with one final quote. S. R. Abasi says “The sky speaks in a thousand colors.” That is why the sky is so important. It can speak to us in so many ways. But I will conclude this post by saying to appreciate the sky because it gives us something every single day. I hope that my readers enjoy the following poem.

The Sky’s Beauty

Painted like a picture
The sky reminds me of better times.
The stars twinkle like magical chimes,
But the sky will never waiver or flicker.

Gone are all of yesterday’s sorrows.
We only focus on the present moment
As the sky is the world’s bestowment.
There is tomorrow.

Betrayal

Betrayal is one of the worst feelings in the world. Sometimes we think it comes from those we do not know or people who we think are our enemies, but the sad truth is that it could come from someone we are familiar with. That leads me into my first quote of this blog post. “The saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies.” In other words it comes from people we know and love, whether that is family, friends or our partners. I think that is why betrayal hurts a lot because we trust those people, but then they betray us. It could be intentional, but it could be unintentional as well. Either way it still hurts and causes a lot of pain, especially for those who feel betrayed. There is another sad truth to betrayal. It can be explained best by the following quote by Arthur Miller. He says, “Betrayal is the only truth that sticks.” I think he means that betrayal is the only truth that sticks and lingers. I know this feels like a sad post so I will try to keep it short I promise.

There could be a positive side to betrayal as well. You can learn so much from it and it is a reflection of who the other person is, not yourself. That leads me to my last and final quote of this blog post. Well… actually three final quotes. The first one is the following. “When someone betrays you, it is a reflection of their character, not yours.” I think that quote is pretty self explanatory, but I will try to explain it the best I can. Betrayal does not show who you are, but it shows who the betrayer really is and has nothing to do with you. Betrayal in other words is not completely your fault. So you should not have to feel guilty. The second to last quote by Sherrilyn Kenyon says, “Everyone suffers at least one bad betrayal in their lifetime. It’s what unites us. The trick is not to let it destroy your trust in others when that happens. Don’t let them take that away from you.” So in other words, do not let that one bad betrayal destroy what you hold so dear and give to others… trust, which is one if not the most important thing in this world.

In conclusion, betrayal is one of the worst things anyone deals with, but we just have to keep moving on no matter how hard that is. That leads me to my last quote of this blog post, I promise. Carmen Harra says, “Betrayal leaves us at a fork in the road… we can become stuck in a bad moment forever or we can put it behind us for good. We decide our path.” In other words, betrayal gives us two options. One is to let it linger and fester. The other option is to move on and leave it in the past. In all honesty, it is better to choose the second option of moving on and leaving betrayal in the past because it does no good to keep a hold on it for our present or future. I hope that everyone enjoys the following visual poem about one form of betrayal.

“Betrayal of Love” visual poem. Image by Jills from Pixabay.

Common Sense and Lack of Common Sense

I think common sense would be pretty common (pardon the pun), but I feel like some people out there lack common sense. First off let’s talk about the very definition of what common sense is. When one looks it up in the dictionary. It might say something like the following from the Oxford dictionary. “the ability to think about things in a practical way and make sensible decisions.” In other words, it helps us make reasonable decisions. That leads me into my first quote of this blog post which says what I said from the very beginning of this post. “If only common sense were more common.” Some people have the worst common sense.

This is a short post so I will conclude this post with the poem down below and that is it. I wrote it in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection because in my mind those people seemed to have the worst common sense. That leads me to my next and final quote of this post. “Common sense is a flower that does not grow in everyone’s garden.” That brings me to what this post is all about. My point is this… there are people in this world who have common sense and then there are those people who lack common sense. For the most part it is very easy to distinguish between the two. I hope that you all enjoy the following poem.

For the Better Good

Some people just lack common sense
As they want to cross over the fence,

But never take the time to know why
It is there. They see the burning sky,

But never know why it is constantly
Burning. They cause chaos and bodily

Harm but never understand the pain
It causes. They complain about the rain

But never understand why people stand
In line for change. They never fanned

The flames and they shift the blame
Onto someone else when they take aim

At people who serve to be our voice for
The better good. They break the door

In the hopes of disturbing such a sacred
Space that is now tarnished with hatred,

Not with peace or their patriotism. They
Need to learn a thing or two about laying

Their hearts in the right place instead of
Shattering the broken remains of love

And sacrifice. Inspire a peacefully led
Revolution for justice instead of a thread

That leads straight to more destructive
Behavior. Be a voice for a more productive

Movement as the rest of us use our voices
And hearts for common sense and choices.

First Love

Whether you want to call this puppy love or first love, it does not matter. We have all at some point experienced this kind of love during our lifetime. Whether it is the person we first dated or really fell in love and it does not necessarily have to be the first boyfriend/girlfriend or first person we dated either. For me it wasn’t my first “boyfriend.” It was a guy I started seeing after college when I went back home. It differentiates person to person. It could be with the person you are with today. It is that someone you do not forget about. It is someone you compare everyone else to. That leads me to my first quote of this post. “No matter what you say, you will never forget your first love.” It is like what I was saying before about not forgetting your first love. Sometimes that first love can be someone like your mom or dad so it does not necessarily have to be romantic because it is that person who taught you what love is. The first kind of love I saw and still see is the one with my parents with each other and to their children.

If you are still with your first love, congratulations, but a lot of the time you do not end up with that person forever. That is unfortunately the sad truth about our first love. That leads me to my next quote by Benjamin Disraeli. He says, “The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can never end.” That is the sad truth about our first love… we tend to ignore the fact that it could end at any point. It hurts, but it happens that way. That person, despite the pain and heartbreak will always have special place in your heart no matter what. They stick with you no matter what. That leads me to my next quote. It says “Maybe your first love is the one that sticks with you because it’s the only person who will ever receive all of you. After that, you learn better. But, most of all, no matter what, a piece of you forever remains left behind in the heart of the one you loved – a piece no future lover could ever get, no mater what. That piece holds innocence – the belief that love really can last forever. It holds friendship and pain, trial and error, that one kiss you’ll never forget and that night under the stars you can never get back. It holds youth and everything you thought love would be. Everything that was proven wrong.” So that person in other words is your first everything.

So I hope that my readers will always remember their first love because that is truly something special and never be afraid to love again if that first love does not work out in the end. That leads me to my next and final quote of this post by Elizabeth Aston. She says “One’s first love is always perfect until one meets one’s second love.” We are allowed to have more than our one or first love. And for the most part our second love is better than the first. I thought I would share not only one poem, but two. Enjoy!!!! And happy belated Valentine’s Day.

Someone I Loved (And Still Love)

You were once someone who I fully loved
As those moments we shared turned into
Distant and far away memories. I shoved
Everything aside, hoping I can forget you

And the way you made me feel. You are
Not here to help me get through all those
Lonely and empty nights. The bright star
You helped me find is there, but the rose

Along with our love died during the middle
Of spring. I had to learn to love the sound
Of walking away as I played second fiddle
To your very first priority. The word around

The street is that I moved on and maybe
You have too, but we both pulled the rug.
We both gave up when it was hard to see
The light at the end of the tunnel. I tugged

Myself out of all those flashbacks in which
I really wanted everything back to how it
Was before; easy and would never switch
Up on each other, but we can no longer fit

Together. All we can do is wish each other
The best and hope that we both can find
Love we search for. Love that can smother
And does not hurt. Love that is both kind

And patient. Love that does not keep us
Second-guessing. Love that is never little
Or too big. On the merry go round and bus
Of life we only keep going until the brittle

Edges of our hearts were breaking. This
Taught me the love never goes away even
When I wanted to hate someone. The bliss
That we had is all I craved and believed in.

Our story and chapter comes to an end,
But in them lays a person I loved. Scratch
That… a person I still love today. I blend
In hoping that you do not knows I catch

Or carry feelings for you. I wear your shirt
In the hopes that I will not forget you and
How it still brings me comfort. We skirt,
Dodge and avoid the past pain. I handed

You parts of me and pretend to be content
Even when my heart is still missing the old
You. It is your familiar touch and scent
That I long for. The “come here” as cold

Days and nights became way warmer with
Your rich voice. All I longed for was to love
You infinitely but love like that is a myth
And fable. Something we can only think of

As the world keeps turning and it always
Comes down to the fact that I have to live
A better life so when we meet again days
Or years later, we will be ready to give

Love a chance that it really deserves. But
For now I think about the what ifs. What if
We just kept trying? What if I tried to shut
Off insecurities we carried? Pour me a stiff

Drink and let’s drink to forget about life.
Let’s drink to forget about love seeping
Through our veins. I wanted to be a wife
Or partner through it all, regularly keeping

You safe and protected from the world
Tossing its leftovers at your feet. I wanted
To be the reason for your smiles, curled.
I cannot let the bad things that haunted

Us to be a mistake as our biggest mistake
Was screaming “I love you” and we were
Too way too late. We were too late to take
The biggest risk of all, having tears blur

Our vision, but we were still willing to fall
Again. I felt like a soldier ready to fight
Because that is all I wanted, but the wall
Went back up again and we lost the light.

So no, I will never be forgetting your love,
Even if I was starting to love someone else
As you are my first love, wearing a glove
To protect something gentle and complex.

Real Love

Love permeates the air because I cannot
Get enough of you, but it is not the lust
I feel in my bones and veins. It is the real
Deal as I used to always get so caught
Up in the past, but not anymore as I trust
You and all the love that is strong. I feel

You even when you are not sleeping here
Next to me or walking besides me in this
Journey of life. I asked a million times if
You loved me and you said, “Never fear
My love as it is sturdier than the abyss
We get easily lost in. Let go of the cliff’s

Edge as it will never hold you and support
Your body weight and heart like I will. So
Trust me when I say I love you one million
Times. Let us fill our souls and passports
With adventure as I wish to see your glow
Forever. I do love you with perfect vision.”

I wish I could articulate it into words and
Notions that make sense, but nothing will
Say it more than all these words to you, my
Dear as we will soon in the future stand
In front of each other as our love’s thrill
Is still here. Love like this is worth a try.

Matters of the Heart

I know I probably talked about the matters of the heart so many times. As I think about it more and more I realize that the heart is one of the most essential organs we have in our bodies. It pumps blood and keeps us alive every day. I really am sorry for everything that I put my heart through. I am thankful for it every minute of every day. That is the very reason why we have to protect it. That leads me to my first quote of this post. Proverb 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” In other word we should protect and guard our hearts because life itself flows and comes from it.

I could go on and on about how important our heart is, but I think people get the point. There is so much more I could say about our hearts, but I will conclude with a couple of more quotes and they are important ones. The first one is by Princess Diana. She says “Only do what your heart tells you.” In other words, you should be trusting and following your heart. You should be doing what your heart tells you to do because it is usually right. That leads me into my next and final quote of this post by Alfred Adler. He says “Follow your heart but take your brain with you.” It is a gentle reminder to follow your heart, but do no not forget to take your brain with you which is very important.

This post is a gentle reminder for those of us who forget that our hearts are the most important organ we have in our body. We have to take care of it, not only physically, but mentally as well because we put it through a lot. The truth is that we cannot always count on others to take care of it for us because it belongs to us and no one else. In a way we have to take care of our own hearts before we take on the responsibility to take care of someone else’s heart because our our health should come before someone else’s damaged heart. So this post is for all of you. Cheers! And enjoy these two poems. The first one is in tribute to Rita Dove who is a poet I came across in one of the competitions I took part in on DUP (won runner up position). You can read her poem that was the inspiration for my poem (click here). Like I said before, I hope that you all enjoy them.

There Goes My Heart

Pitter patter
goes my heart
every time I see you.

Take what belongs
to you – the heart
moving with
every breath
and word spoken
So eloquently.

All I yearned for
was simplicity
and easiness.

The heart never
loses its shape
nor its color
as it never stops
its birdlike or drum
like consistency.

It never stops its
path to freedom.

Visual poem titled “Healing Heart.”