Writer’s quote: Angelina Jolie

Don’t fit in, don’t sit still, don’t ever try to be less than what you are and when someone tells you that you are different, smile and hold your head up high and be proud.
– Angelina Jolie

The above quote is from Angelina Jolie’s speech after winning a kids choice award for favorite villain in her role as Maleficient.

When you know, own and accept who you are, no one would be able to use it against you. No one has the power to make you feel embarrassed about certain things without your permission. The light is out there for a reason. It is waiting for you to step into it. It is waiting to illuminate the star that you are. And no, this is not just talk. This is fact, this is reality. This is me saying pick up your hat and strut like the boss that you are. You are different? That’s okay. Imagine a world where we all did the same things, looked the same way, loved the same hobbies- it wouldn’t be much of a world.

You weren’t born to fit in. You were beautifully made to stand out. Appreciate the unique being you are and use that God-given creativity to reveal to the world.

This is my submission for writer’s quote Wednesday hosted by silver Threading.

Mental Health Friday #22

Hi. I’m Angela and I’ve been diagnosed with bipolar 2, borderline personality disorder, binge eating, and general anxiety. I can’t remember how old I was when I realized I had a mental illness. I know I’ve always been suicidal. I think my mind uses it as a coping mechanism. I know I was at least fifteen. It wasn’t until I turned seventeen that I sought help. The catalyst was I went from being suicidal to homicidal. I wanted to stab a kid in my class and it terrified me. I went to the counselor at school and started therapy. Still no one recognized my true diagnosis.

It took me twenty two years to finally get diagnosed properly. I had to get a psychological evaluation for myself. After being treated for depression off and on and then general anxiety with meds that didn’t help, I now have a good mix of medication and therapy. Most days I’m good and for those off days… Well I take one moment at a time.

One final thought… Always self advocate. I wish I had sooner. It took me almost being imploding to realize I need to be picky in my doctors and to get second opinions. We need to take care of ourselves before we can others.

---

This week’s submission is by Angela who blogs at I am my own island , do pop by and say hello. She writes about life in general, living and improving despite mental issues.

As always, The goal of Mental Health Friday is to break the silence, talk about mental illness with the aim of blurring out the stigma one story at a time. If you’d like to share your story, I’d love to have you. You can contact me at my email: mykahani@yahoo.com . For more information, visit HERE.

The man I couldn’t keep-

It started with a joke
And you laughed,
It wasn’t funny
Still you Laughed,
And I knew
I had got you,
You were mine to keep,
Our children
Would carry your genes.
Our children…
I sigh,
How I envisioned a future
I had little control over,
But you knew.
Oh you knew
Of the finite time in your sand-clock,
Grain by grain..
But I had told daddy about you-
About the man with
Cerulean eyes,
And deep set brows,
About the man who drove at a snail’s
Pace,
About the man who’d father his
Grandchildren,
About the man who
Worshipped his Lord
Five times
Five unfailing times daily,
About the man I thought I could keep
Till the sun rose from the west
Till the trumpet blew
Till I am buried under deep…
I had told daddy all about you.

But the abnormal cells won
Here we are-
I joke,
No one to laugh.
I Stand
You’re buried under deep
Reality seems like a nightmare
But I pray
I pray to the Lord you worship
Worshipped…
The man I thought I could keep
Is at peace.

The above image is courtesy of Pinterest

Flash Fiction: The Odd one

There’s always that one in every crowd. The one who goes left while everyone’s going right. The one who walks in a zigzag pattern while the rest are going in a straight line. The one who wears sportswear on casual outfit day. The one who comes to school prepared for a test to find out they were seating for finals. The one…

“Josiah Matthew Udom! All I asked for was why the man wearing a red cap was working away from the rest.” An exasperated Lyndi butted into her brother’s mini speech.

“Well, I was getting there before you interrupted me”, her brother, the construction site owner objected.

“Never mind, I’m sorry I asked. But thanks for the tour.” Lyndi took off without waiting for his reply. Knowing her brother, he was probably gearing up another speech on why the man in question chose to wear a red colored cap, of all the bountiful colors in existence.

---

word count: 150 words This story is in response to flash fiction for aspiring writers  photo prompt challenge. Each week, a picture is provided for us to write a 75-175 word story. Thank you Ellespeth’s Friend for providing this week’s picture. 

Lock and Key-

There are times when she feels a burning desire to tell you of all that aches within. She knows you will understand, but… And that “but” is the bump on the road jolting her back from divulging to you. The fear, the inevitability that some day, one day, the words she trusts you with would spill from your tongue unrestrained; the truth she hands over to you lock and key would be employed as a weapon, your weapon against her.
                                  It wouldn’t be the first time…
And for that reason, dear friend, she knows she should tell you of all that aches within… But she can’t.

The above image is courtesy of Poetrygrrl.com

Of the one I loved-

 
I loved a boy once,
A grave mistake;
Gave him my heart,
Which he displaced;
He left a void,
I wrote to fill;
Heartbreak was one-
Poetry couldn’t heal.

I loved a boy once-
Recent history;
And patched his pieces,
At the expense of me;
He grew new wings,
I lost my grip;
He flew to places,
I needed fixing.

I loved a boy once-
Whom I couldn’t keep;
His word was the law,
I, a willing victim;
He showed me the stars,
And dimmed my flick;
He left a void-
I am writing to fill.

The above image is courtesy of Avrilmvh.com

Writer’s Quote: Charles Bukowski

Oh the days I’ve felt the same way as Charles Bukowski described in his quote, and sometimes, climbing out of bed is the easy part. Knowing a deadline is looming close with zero inspiration to write has a way of dampening even a good day. But then, how many times have we said we couldn’t and we did.

Charles Bukowski was a poet and writer. He wrote short stories, columns for magazines and poetry. According to Wikipedia, he wrote thousands of poetry during his lifetime, many of which were still being published after he passed away on March 9, 1994. He is one of those writers who “say things as they are”. From reading his works, you get this raw honesty and the picture that, this is one man who does not sugar coat his words.

The above quote is in honor of those days when we feel like the ground should hole up, swallow our horrible drafts and replace them with masterpieces; its for the mornings of deadlines when we race to defeat the clock; its for Moments in time when we thought we couldn’t and we did triumphantly.

Below is one of the first poems of Charles Bukowski I came across:

The flesh covers the bone
And they put a mind
In there and
Sometimes a soul,
And the women break
Vases against walls
And the men drink too
Much
And nobody finds the
One
But they keep
Looking
Crawling in and out
Of beds.
Flesh covers
The bone and the
Flesh searches
For more than
Flesh.

There’s no chance
At all;
We are all trapped
By a singular
Fate.

Nobody ever finds
The one.

The city dumps fill
The junkyards fill
The madhouses fill
The hospitals fill
The graveyards fill

Nothing else
Fills.
-Alone With Everybody (C. Bukowski)

This post is in response to Writer’s Quote Wednesday hosted by SilverThreading where we share “writer’s quotes” which inspire us. If you’d love to participate and share your quote, just click on the highlighted link above.

Her Story-

Her story lay not in the ink filled lines of a notebook or in the rhyming of her poems. They exist in the gaps between her words, in the hyphen between sentences and in the full stop following a phrase. Her story, she embedded in the midst of Beauty, hoping, wishing, someone would wonder enough to decipher the coded darkness floating between them.
Alas, her story lay in vain…

the above image is courtesy of this site:Gettyimages.com

Flash Fiction: Best Advice

The sight of the solitary red bench evoked a misty sensation in her right eye which Mindy couldn’t attribute to the particles of the wind. She remembered the old man who inhabited that bench everyday when the shadows reflected twice our sizes, he gave her the best advice she’d ever received.

Their first encounter was when the old man came to his spot and found Mindy weeping in her school uniform. Upon questioning, she told him of the bullying she encountered daily at school for being fat. He threw his head back, laughed and said “oh Honey, next time, you tell them fat is something one can lose or better yet, sit on people with. Being judgmental and stupid is an ugly curse for life.” He added that she strides away, before the bullies can make a comeback.

Mindy looked to the heavens and said, “Rest in Peace old man” letting the mist descend down her cheeks.

---

Word count: 159. This story is in response to Flash Fiction For Aspiring Writers Photo prompt challenge hosted by Priceless Joy. Thank you Ady for this week’s picture. This is an event where we are given a picture each week and required to write a 75-175 word  story.

Fix you-

How do you fix a person,
Who’s determined,
This life is a cell;
How do you heal someone,
Who’s wound,
Hurting- is their only solace;
How do you reassure a heart-
To feel,
To break,
Is but to be alive;
Can you?
Can you?
Convince a person,
Who’s determined
The world isn’t theirs to live.

The above Image is courtesy of Picturesquotes.com