EDITOR’S INVITATION: If you’re reading this and like to write or share art in the spirit of hope, healing, recovery or wellness, then you are invited to submit a blog post for our website any time. Don’t have a full post to share? Send a photo, poem, song or missive of any kind, and—if it fits our mission—we’ll add it right here to our community journal on creativity and wellness. The only rule for Create Well is when it comes to words, keep them to 200 or less. Look forward to sharing your wisdom, insights and art!
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LITTLE TREES by KAREN FOLMAN
I see you, not always in clear view
But on a foggy, rainy, overcast day
Small flashes in the sky from afar
But the damage is real and sometimes shocking
Never quite knowing when or where you will hit next
I walk through the forest of my past
Noticing some darkened and charred branches
Believing that regrowth is possible
Yet still focused on the pain that is left in my roots
I try to dig down deeper, thickening my bark
I sit deep within the soil, as I steadily wait
Knowing it takes time to heal,
Scared, that I may never grow my limbs back
Or at least how I remember them to be
So instead I meditate, on what I want to see
I breathe life back into my dormant buds
Visualizing my forest not how it's always been but what it could become
New leaves come to life, as the sun feeds me
Seedlings create new pathways, allowing me to sprout
Blooming flowers, I flourish, unrecognizable
I am a new forest, growing out of love
Planting little trees, no longer looking back
Thank you Karen for writing this during Story Well on Sept. 13, 2021, and then sharing it here. May we all find the hope and strength to re-bloom when needed.
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TRAUMA, LITTLE t by JACOB ROBINSON
Life on a knife’s edge, it is sharp and treacherous
We cling to safety as we should
Protecting ourselves and others is good
When our best efforts
Are overwhelmed
Despite preparation and planning
Support networks and chocolate
The Ts wait like wolves in the weeds
They want you isolated
They want you hungry
They want you tired
They want you to hurt more
to distract from the hurting
Big t and Little t teaming up
The ghosts from past scars
Awaken to make friends
With the bullies before us
Little t, sneaky,
sometimes like a swarm of ants
Many small assalts make welts
Like a storm that lasts too long
The cold winds blow away precious scarves and mittens
chills creep in
Little t wants desperately to grow up into Big t,
Little t, like magnets attract more magnets
memories and negativity stick together
Teaming up to gain power
Teaming up to take your power
Little t leave me be
I have seen these mean dreams
I know I can weather
With rest, activities
Help from friends and Honesty
We can gain some perspective
Those scary shadows are not so big
Not as big as our hearts longing for peace
Calm the winds
Face the wolves
Let peace beget peace
These wounds we have healed
Stay healed and our scars are tough
I am not raw
I am not weak
This challenge is just right for me
Go back to sleep Little t
Leave me be
Thank you Jacob for leading Story Well on Sept. 13, 2021, writing this during our time together, and then sharing it here. Let’s all hang on to the perspective that “this challenge is just right for me.”
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UNTITLED BY JASON CHAFFEE
A serpent that swallows my youth from inside
An innocence lost I let hate be my guide
Forever it seemed, your succulent glow,
Was just a façade void of a soul
To break free of my prison was an impossible feat
For losing the hate was the first step to heed
With anger and pain on this occupied mind
I let hatred slip far and deeper inside
The lesson in turn was as clear as the sky
And the lesson I learned was it's okay to cry.
Author’s note: We bottle up emotions. We are taught to "just do it", "move forward", "it is what it is." Without concern for how detrimental bottled up emotions are on our physical health we are reminded generally when it is too late. Emotions manifest in negative physical attributes with disease, sickness, mental health struggles, the list goes on ad-infinitum. It is ok to release, vent, cry. It is ok to ask for help. We are all here to help one another through this gift of life. Not to be divisive, abusive, and superior over one another. We are not separate, we are one.
Thank you Jason for writing this during Story Well on Sept. 13, 2021, and then sharing it here. A beautiful lesson indeed.
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COMING TO TERMS WITH THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC by SARAH SOUDER JOHNSON
As we begin to see the restrictions of the pandemic in the rearview mirror, it can feel exciting and upsetting all at the same time. If you don’t quite feel like yourself, rest assured there is a good reason for that. You have lived through a series of rapid changes following a very abrupt shutdown. If you are feeling more upset than excited and struggling to return to “normal,” gently consider the following tips for recovery …
Click here to read Sarah’s tips at CounselingMN.com
Thank you Sarah for sharing your writing skills and therapy expertise to help us navigate to the next normal.
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WE CAN ALL DO THIS by SARAH SOUDER JOHNSON
Thank you Sarah for helping to normalize the more-common-than-people-know choice to not drink.
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UNTITLED by JON CLIFFORD
We see beauty every day.
We see it without ever considering the depths of sadness it may have been conceived from.
The creative force is most always conceived from an emptiness. A hole. A void in the horizon that must be filled.
There are those that feel pain and sorrow, and know that the way they can heal that pain is through music, through art, through writing.
Often, it is the contrary of what they are seeing and feeling. Sometimes, it is a photographic resemblance of visual or Sonic vision.
Dissonance gives hope and healing to those who need it.
Your support of such groups is the signal of a morning sunrise. A signal to continue the day with passion and love.
My name is Jonny, and I am a creative.
I make beauty because I see far too much ugly in this world.
Thank you Jon for beautifully articulating the therapeutic value of art!
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ABSTRACT SELF-PORTRAIT by DAISY VERNON
Thanks Daisy for helping us think about self-love, and how we see ourselves. We like the idea of, “in many colors!”