Being a mental health blogger, I love reading content about mental health and understanding how society sees it from a different point of view. I recently came across a poem book, “Darkness and Light” written by Mahevash Shaikh and in this short piece, I am sharing a few of my favourite reads out of 133 soulful poems on mental health.
Darkness And Light
Darkness and Light is a collection of 133 poems about mental health and society. In this book, the author has poured her vivid thoughts and emotions into very simple language. The very first poem is about staying in life, taking one day at a time. Through her poems like Social Media Besting, Life Without Screens and The Power of the Internet, the author shares how we all are losing the face of humanity in the race to show what we are not, the faces we put forward on screen and how we are losing our essence.
While reading the book, I felt as if the author has penned down these poems over a span of time, maybe when she was experiencing the rage, angst and reactions of society over the different stages of life, as each poem has a message and a hidden story to it.
Poems like Social Pressure, Disturbed, Slowing Down Time, and Existential Crisis, show a mirror to the society questioning them about their norms, and stereotypes and how so many people have literally burnt their dreams with their bare hands just to follow these norms which lead nowhere. How people just give up on their desires, questioning their identity and wanting to be someone else throughout their life.
Fitting In Is Waste of Time- yes our mental health starts to bloom when we stop paying heed to what people will think when we stop whistling ourselves to meet their expectations, we need to learn to say No and draw certain boundaries because we cannot pour from an empty cup.
Healing from Trauma is a long, dark journey, and most of the time it is a lone journey. I personally resonate with these lines as the pain is not self-inflicted but fixing it becomes our job, which takes a lot of time.
The book is available at Amazon – Darkness and Light
About The Author Of Darkness and Light
Disabled mental health and lifestyle blogger | Author -Mahevash Shaikh
Mahevash Shaikh is a millennial writer who talks about culture, society, and mental health. She has been recognized at esteemed platforms for her work. You can find her words on various websites like HealthyPlace, Reader’s Digest, HuffPost, Ladders, and World Institute on Disability. Her book, Darkness And Light, has been released five years after her profound debut book, Busting Clichés. Enjoy reading.
