Writing Therapy - Writing Poetry to Deal with Life - Poetry Can Be Therapeutic

Many of us have things we just need to get out. Maybe we've been through something and just need to share it with others. There may be something we want to say to someone, but know it's best not to say it to them. It might be that we're just dying to express our thoughts and feelings. Whatever it may be, getting it out through poetry can be very helpful.

Writing to Grieve

I personally wrote my first poem after my mom died when I was only eleven years old. That was the beginning of writing poetry to help me deal with life. I didn't realize at that time how often I would do that in the years to come. I can look back at my life and see specific times that I wrote to deal with what I was going through. Just getting it out seemed to help, even if it didn't really change anything.

I wrote Wasted Life and I Couldn't Save You last year while dealing with the deaths of a friend and a relative to drug overdoses. Both losses were very difficult, but I found emotional release and healing in writing about them. There is a comfort found in being able to write the thoughts floating through my mind when something hurts and death seems to trigger the need to write in me.

Writing to Deal with Memories

I went through a time recently when memories of past relationships seemed to be haunting me in my dreams. It stirred up a lot in me and I wrote Memories, Sweet Painful Memories, Fading Love, and Bitter Anguish. Writing these poems seemed to help me be able to let go of the memories that were making my dreams so painful.

Writing to Heal

I have also been through abusive relationships and wrote Tainted Love about what it was like in those relationships. As I wrote them, it was like mentally reliving it from a safe haven, knowing they couldn't hurt me again. It felt so good to knowing I wasn't in those situations any longer. I also knew I would be sharing what I had been through with others and hoped my words would help someone else in an abusive relationship to not feel alone and hopeless.

Writing to Get it Out

I also dealt with everything I've wanted to say for years to my older daughter's deadbeat dad that abandoned her, by writing poetry. The words had been screaming in my head for so long, dying to come out. The anger was so overwhelming at times, I literally thought I would explode. I knew I needed to get it out and I knew I couldn't say it to him. So I wrote Beautiful Daughter. I felt so intense as I wrote it. It felt so good to finally get it out. If he happens to come across the poem on the internet, then he'll finally know what I really think of him and I won't have to deal with actually talking to him. If he never sees it, at least I got to say it through writing and it helped me deal with the hurt and anger in a healthy way.

Writing is Therapuetic

From personal experience, I truly believe writing poetry can be very therapeutic. It's a very healthy way to get things out, whatever they may be. Every time I write a poem to deal with something, it helps me somehow. I find release, satisfaction, healing and strength in letting my thoughts be free in the words on a page. There's also something in knowing that others will read what you wrote and share in it with you that brings an added sense of comfort. So if you have things you need to deal with, get out your pen and paper, or sit down to your keyboard and find some poetic therapy.