At a very young age I began experiencing depression. I had watched my Dad die when I was five years old and my mother who was stricken by grief and her own depression had pushed me away.
My mother committed suicide right before my senior year of high school and I went to live with her parents. My depression worsened and I started drinking because I was in so much emotional pain. It was a common practice in my family to keep your feelings to yourself, so I never spoke to anyone about my deep feelings of sadness and loneliness; my depression.
Three years after the death of my mother; my city blew up. My grandfather and I had made a 9:00 appointment at the Social Security office in downtown Oklahoma City on Monday. The next morning at precisely the same time that building was destroyed by a bomb that I heard go off from my bedroom not far away. The destruction and devastation was way too much for me to handle after all I had already experienced in my young life. I had my first “episode” and was hospitalized and diagnosed with manic depression in 1995.
Six years later after many hospital stays, I was instructed by my counselor to keep a journal. I started writing and my first two journal entries were in just plain prose about my current issues but by my third entry I had written my first poem.
I wrote poems in my journal for about two years. My poetry was real and it helped me overcome depression. The more I wrote, the better I began to feel. I didn’t realize it at the time but now looking back I can see that my writing The Breadth of Love was my own method of self-help and it was my path to discovering how to overcome depression.
Millions of people are living with depression every day and are seeking a way to overcome it. My mother used to tell me I could learn from her mistakes. I believe that is true , and I have learned a lot from her mistakes as well as my own. We can learn from other people. When I started sharing my poetry with others they began to brighten up. People started calling me their “sunshine” and some people call me “a healer”.
All I know is now-a-days I feel much better. I still have moments of sadness as I am just human, but I no longer experience depression. I no longer have deep feelings of despair and hopelessness. I am generally very happy.
Again, writing The Breadth of Love was my personal journey of how to overcome depression. I know many people will benefit from my journey as many people are searching for their own way to overcome depression.
Believing that you will benefit helps me to know that my struggle to overcome depression and my victory has not been in vain.
Order your copy of The Breadth of Love today and read and save my article: ‘How to Overcome Depression and Manage Mental Illness’ for future reference.
Wishing you happiness, health, and prosperity!!!
Love—Justice Jones
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