Between The Stars

This collection of poetry focuses on the underlying mental health issues that society avoids. It is presented as the voice of your thoughts and a guide on how to deal with mental health issues especially anxiety, trauma, as well as depression. At some point in our lives, we are all prone to suffering from some sort of acute mental illness, whether it be for a short or prolonged period, leaving it unaddressed and casually carrying on with our daily lives has become the norm. This may lead to much more intense symptoms and eventually provoke one to take their own life or harm oneself in any other way to feel some sort of relief or simply to feel. The poems in this book focus a lot on how individuals may feel during a depressive or traumatic phase in their lives or when they feel they have reached the pinnacle point in their lives. Our pursuit of success is met by so many obstacles and we often forget to breathe and appreciate how far we have come and where we are going. Social media and life, in general, tend to put an immense amount of pressure on us to be perfect. Each poem is meant to remind the reader that their existence is felt in the universe, we are perfectly imperfect humans and though there are 7 billion of us on this planet, each of us plays a role in the existence of life itself. Each poem is written in the simplest way I feel was possible to fit the themes and to reach out to people who especially have a stereotype around poetry being complicated and only read by people who understand the dynamics of poetry. Everyone - young or old that can read should be able to read each piece easily without having to think too hard about what each poem or line or stanza may mean, but to instantly feel connected regardless of their background, upbringing, and current circumstance in life. Various themes such as tragedy, love, loss, and healing are constantly repeated throughout the book. Every chapter is named after the birth process of a star, symbolising the potential of rebirth in the way one perceives life and mental health while reading the book. Each piece serves as a reminder to the reader that they do matter, their thoughts and fears are valid, that they are certainly not alone and that there are ways to combat the feelings and thoughts by reading and confronting emotions through poetry.