I write this poem today to not fixate on my problems with OCD but to demystify OCD and fight through the silent sufferings that overtake me on countless days like this. I just want to provide an outlet for those who are in the throws of OCD or other mental illness.
Awoke this morning with urgency on my mind,
There never feels…read more
It’s so brave of you to share this with your struggles and put it in beautiful poetic words!
I like how you poem reminds me of slam poetry, it’s to the point and I can imagine a beat when I read through it. I like your own interpretation with how you deal with OCD. I feel like everyone might have different or relatable experinces . I…read more
Ashley!! This is so good! It really captures how your mind and the anxiety associated with OCD impacts you. Writing is so powerful, I can feel you processing and facing your struggles.You are so strong. Never forget that. This poem is great. Sending love.
I’m always riding this carousel, which was always my addictive sedative like cotton candy. Sweet and familiar, but toxic with its sugary sweetness filled with empty calories. Everything has an expiration date, a person, and a place, which I would hold tightly in my hand before I say my goodbyes. However, I still found myself i…read more
Aww, I am so sorry this happened to you. When someone violates you, it totally does feel like for a moment in time you don’t own your own body. But remember, you have persevered. You have risen above. Be proud of your strength and continue to move forward in life with power and grace. Don’t let the people who tried to hurt you hold you back, ever!…read more
Thank you so much for the encouragement! I felt better when I shared if that makes sense. It’s something I don’t talk about much, I sort of gloss over it, since it was pretty messed up. I think what helps is choosing my outfits and even wearing jewelry gives me a sense of strength and like this is my body don’t touch. I’m a very fa…read more
Letting your truth out is empowering and freeing and inspiring it. Never hold it in. Always let it out. Keep being you. Keeping being strong. And keep pressing forward. Xox Lauren.
Here’s a poem I wrote to not let shame confine me anymore to its demands I talk openly about it in order to normalize it.
Felt undeserving and unwhole when I grappled with that day.
It spun me around as the vicious cycle begun under way.
The clueless side of the trauma revealed itself, I blamed myself more than you know.
I wrestled with being r…read more
ASHLEY!!!!!! This is soooo good!! so strong ! So inspiring and so powerful. I think we have all felt shame at some point in our lives – often for something that wasn’t our fault. I felt a lot of shame after my sexual assault. This poem is so powerful. You are taking your power back. You are owning ! Claiming it! And letting the shame fall by the…read more
@theunsealed Thank you for putting my poem on the board it really means a lot to me. And also for seeing and hearing me through this poem. Shame is a ferocious beast that we all can learn to tame. I see you and hear you as well Lauren. We are mighty warriors that get to tell our stories through our voices. I am grateful to this platform and we…read more
Aww I am so glad you like it here. We are happy you are here encouraging us, inspiring us and showing us love as well. What we go through in life I truly believe just shows us how strong and powerful we truly are. Thank you for being a part of this community! We <3 you!
First of all, this poem was just splendid. I liked how, what’s the term, it’s like cut-throat and openly vulnerable to how we feel about ourselves. Shame and trauma, I hate how shame is put near trauma, since we shame ourselves for the trauma we went through but we need to keep reminding ourselves it’s not our faults.
I’m so happy I could write something that lifted our voices together and reminds us how strong we are on the inside. I like that you recognize how powerful writing can be for our therapy and healing. You definitely get me thinking how trauma is like elastic it sticks and it stretches throughout our lifetime but we don’t have to…read more
You can & you will ! Love this . Definitely resonated with the finding your authentic self under the debris of the traumas & Feeling reclusive . It gets greater later though , we got this
@sadeb101 appreciate your encouraging words of validation 😉 I’m happy I could be encouraging to you as well and you resonated with my poem. Yes, it does improve day by day some days are more difficult but it doesn’t have to control us, we do got this in the bag! 😉
“It is my duty, as an air rescueman, to save life and aid the injured. I will be prepared at all times to perform my assigned duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These things I do THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE.”
This is the code of Air Force Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), my profession, and a sen…read more
Dear Bryan,
I am so impressed with your extreme bravery and selflessness. I am also so proud of you and feel privileged to say you are my cousin.
I am so glad you sought and received the help you needed. I am very happy that you are physically and mentally better now.
It was an honor to read your letter and learn of your…read more
Thanks Shelley! I am definitely glad we have been able to connect and get to know each other a bit in recent years! My work has genuinely been my pleasure and honor, and it is a major relief that I did not have to choose between my work and my health in this case.
First I thank you for your service. My family’s history is synonymous with service to the military so I know how important your service is.
Like you I too have suffered depression. Also like you I have lived with a severe vitamin d deficiency. My levels were so low that I was given 50,000 IU pills to take on several different occasions.…read more
Bryan, First of all thank you so very much for your service. This piece is such a testament to your strength and courage. I think it takes a lot of both to go get the help you need, especially when you don’t even understand the root of the problem. I am so happy that you are feeling better. It’s is so important to express yourself. And I am so…read more
Thanks! Because of my past I have very good coping mechanisms and techniques for dealing with a known source of trauma, depression, stress, or anxiety. A lot of it came from counselors during my firefighting days and from family and friends who had been there and done that. But ai was completely at a loss for what do do when the source was unknown.
Mental health is so tricky sometimes. Nothing can chance, and suddenly it can hit you all at once. It won’t let me share the link. But put in the search box “To all the people I could not save” His story reminds me quite a bit of yours.
It might seem impossible to imagine that I am a timid person. Though not too long ago I was a very different person than I am today. I questioned the voice inside me almost daily. I often would hide from voicing how I felt and what was going on inside my head. As one can see today that’s no longer the case. More on t…read more
It’s such an incredible feeling when there is a breakthrough, especially with mental health. Good on you for recognizing it and taking steps to recover before it put you in the hospital! Thanks for sharing.
I broke off my engagement and went to my "safe space"
To The Unsealed Community,
There was a period when I was 24 years old when I was drowning in guilt, stress, and confusion. I was engaged to an incredible person. But, sadly, my beautiful ring felt more like a handcuff than a gift, as it chained me to a life I was not yet ready to live. How was I supposed to tell someone who loved me, encouraged…read more
There are so many times where we all need safe spaces. Whether it is to make everything quiet for a moment when the world seems like it is falling apart. Over the years I’ve never really known a place like that. I have that place now, however. It has become my fortress of solitude to gather thought or apply reflection…read more
Through my life there have been many emotions I have expressed. Whether it is happiness or sadness, it displays very evidently. One that hasn’t made front face news however is fear. It just never plays out the same as other emotions I may have. This will be the first time I’ve actively written about it.
Typically, I am not someone who visibly shows the world how I feel. Whether it was a big loss in sports as a teenager or in fourth grade when a boy pretended to throw up when he found out I liked him, I have often, without even trying, kept a poker face.
This is very inspiring especially to someone who relates to being traumatized to the point where you don’t want to interact with others or lock yourself away . Thank you for your vulnerability and I’m sorry that you went through that
Aww thank you. I read all your stories that you post. YOUR strength is very inspiring to me. And the thing I learned through my own journey is whatever pain you feel, it can get better. We have so much power within ourselves – especially you. I am in complete awe of your strength. Thank you for reading my story and for your vulnerability as well.
I am ashamed to say that I don’t know what you are. You aren’t the only singular thing I search for meaning within, but you cause me the most extreme distress.
All my life I’ve searched for my life’s definition in you. By no shortage of pure irony, my favorite television show growing up was called The Pretender. It was about a…read more
Roger, maybe your identity isn’t one singular thing but many things. Don’t spend so much time trying to define who you are and instead just BE who you are.
I can definitely relate to this . First off just the journey you described being taken away from your parents and struggling with your identity . I too went through that for soooo long . It was a painstakingly hard task and thing to do but I worked with a therapist and then also spent a lot of time by myself to get to the root of who I am , I feel…read more
I’m glad that your journey is working well towards finding the root of who you are. For me there’s just so much to sift through as I have literally become the person I think I needed to be in different moments. I think that my ability to adapt is where my identity may lie. Like Jarod in that TV show I’ve become different people, not because I’m…read more
Hi Ashley,
It’s so brave of you to share this with your struggles and put it in beautiful poetic words!
I like how you poem reminds me of slam poetry, it’s to the point and I can imagine a beat when I read through it. I like your own interpretation with how you deal with OCD. I feel like everyone might have different or relatable experinces . I…read more
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Ashley!! This is so good! It really captures how your mind and the anxiety associated with OCD impacts you. Writing is so powerful, I can feel you processing and facing your struggles.You are so strong. Never forget that. This poem is great. Sending love.
Lauren
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