Recovery: The Musical

Recovery Through Music and Poetry

Loss is something everyone will go through in many different forms. The loss of a friend, family member, a beloved pet. You could even feel that you lost yourself through a mental illness. The road to recovery could be a bumpy ride with a multitude of obstacles you will face. A lot of people go through a period of disconnection to themselves and the world around them, and they aren’t always sure how to ground themselves. Of course, there are many ways to achieve this, but, through my own personal experiences, I feel that this method is very powerful and works extremely well.

Music and poetry provide access to emotions you might not have known were there. Creating poetry or music and getting your thoughts down on paper gives you an easy way to release all of the negative emotions and energy you are holding inside of you. Reading other people's poetry provides another way to release the negative energy, and also lets you know that you are not alone in whatever it is you are facing. Music, whether you are listening to it or creating it, send off such wonderful, positive energy. The lyrics in a song are immensely powerful and could be motivating. When you think about it, the lyrics in a song are poetry with music paired with it. So, singers and songwriters are poets, and their poetry are sometimes the most beautiful of them all.

Like I had said, I have personal experiences that have led me to believe that music and poetry are some of the best forms of reconnecting with oneself and help when someone is in recovery. I went through a heavily severe depression for about four years that ended in me attempting suicide. I had a very long conversation with my mother the next morning, and we decided that we both needed to take my mental health issues more seriously. I told her I did not want to go on medication, I am extremely against it. So, we looked up other methods to help me recover. Almost everything I tried didn’t work, until I found poetry. Of course, I already knew about poetry, but I hadn’t found it yet. I hadn’t found the poets that spoke to me, like Maya Angelou. I read her poetry religiously, connecting emotionally to every word of it. I found someone that went through similar trauma as myself, and showed me that I wasn’t alone. She showed me that the emotions I was feeling were okay, but there were better ways to cope and recover than the extremely harmful and dangerous methods I had chosen.

Then, I found music. Again, I had listened to music before, but I never really listened. I didn’t listen to the lyrics, I didn’t feel the beat of the drums, the strumming of the guitar. I found music that really spoke to me. It released all of the negative energy I had built up inside me over those four dark years and shoved positive energy in its place. I learned to love my favorite artists even more, and in a more emotional way. I connected, and still continue to connect, with music and found deeper meanings to my favorite songs.

Music and poetry have helped me reconnect with myself and the world around me. It has helped my friends and family and other people I have seen on social media. It provides a very deep connection and release of negative energy and gives an amazing overflow of positive energy. These creative outlets have saved me and many other people and have been a major part of my road to recovery. I hope they can help you too.