Logic & Emotion: How Scribbling in a Notebook Can Actually be Beneficial i.e. Saving Grace

Hello! Author's note before we get this kicked off. This is a SLAM (spoken word poetry) piece that came from my research paper ideas/topic this semester: why creativity can be a treatment for mental illness.

Picture this:

When you hear the word LOGIC

What did you visualize?

Focus and determination are commonly associated with it

Maybe a brain or a doctor or a list of words you can't hope to pronounce?

Or puzzle pieces all slotted together?

How about this one...

EMOTION

Perhaps a completely different side of the scale

Artists and creations might have sparked

An opera scene?

Or two drama masks, one laced with joy, the other tragedy?

Undying love and passion?

Creators, artists, and writers everywhere

Tend to struggle in the realms of motivation to create what pulls at their hearts and tests their minds

They wish to inspire and experience, but at what cost?

Their mental stability, it seems

However...

There's a logical way to view mental health and then there's a more emotionally oriented view to the argument

Both right and left brain observations

Open the discussion of mental illness and mental health treatment

Too often, there's a looming cloud of neglectfulness and a diminishing attitude towards mental health

The health of the mind can't possibly compare to physical injuries

A broken arm would be treated immediately, as it is detrimental to survival

But personal, mental well-being is overshadowed and drowned out in the constant work-focused society

Sacrificing personal sanity is the price for working hard

Thinking abstractly is taxing, leading a person to think their creative efforts are futile

Depression and self-doubt creep in, expecting more from you than you can ever give

Creators constantly search to become better

Work must always improve or meaningfulness ceases

A way to combat this rises from the ashes

How about creativity and creative expression as an outlet from these emotions?

It can heal and solidify a healthy outlet for expressing pent up emotion

Within the world and endless days, it can do more than what others believe

Creativity can shield from the disturbing and all-consuming thoughts

Transforming into a piece of artwork that has the power to improve lives

Suggests and may cause the development of a stronger identity

Involvements in true authentic encounters involving feelings will improve their craft and mental stability

It can't originate from only a logical standpoint

The perspective lens of artists themselves need to be considered

Creativity can be someone's saving grace and may be the reason that they choose to live

Their creations are what make them want to keep going

Creativity does no solve metal illness; instead it can simply enhance, encourage and fuel artistic tendencies

To define and describe the feelings and emotions that science can't always explain

Logic and emotion must coincide for the artists to overcome and harness the darkness for their own saving grace