It’s Mental health awareness week this week and Clive at Take it Easy is an advocate for this cause each year having read his posts I am joining him today to highlight the plight of people suffering. Please read Clive’s post the link is above. To his post 2024.
I can’t laugh too hard, I’m on a diet
I’m trying to lose myself
You ought to try it
Just starve for six days straight
Oh, it’s a riot
Ev-e-ry Sun-day night
I binge, and I barf, ’cause I carry the
Scars of an eight-year-old
Whose mother applied the same rules
To her kid’s body as her own
I think you’ll leave me soon
Though I’ve no proof of it
But I’ll make it easier for you
By being a little bitch
And this is just a theory
But I think the reason
Why I’m scared you’ll croak is:
The only male influence I’ve had
After daddy up and left
Were my mother’s weekend lovers
And their alcoholic breaths
I’ll tell you what caused it
If you’ll handle the effects (the effects, the effects)
Yes, I’ll tell you what caused it
If you’ll handle the effects (the effects, the effects)
I’ll tell you what caused it
If you’ll handle the effects (the effects, the effects)
Yes, I’ll tell you what caused it
If you’ll handle the effects (whoa!)
I can’t laugh too hard, I’m on a diet
I’m trying to lose myself
You ought to try it
Just starve for six days straight
Oh, it’s a riot
Ev-e-ry Sun-day night
I am highlighting two singers who have had really hard times with mental issues. Ladies First? Maria Viktoria Mena (born 19 February 1986) is a Norwegian pop singer, best known for her singles such as “You’re the Only One“, “Just Hold Me”, and “All This Time” which charted in multiple countries.
Maria Viktoria Mena was born to a Norwegian mother and Charles Mena, a Nicaraguan-American drummer of Afro-Nicaraguan descent. There was a common misconception that her mother is a playwright, but Mena debunked this in an interview. Both Maria and her brother, Tony, are named after characters from Leonard Bernstein‘s West Side Story.
Her father was born in Bluefields, Nicaragua where he lived until he was 10, at which point he and his mother, Mena’s paternal grandmother, moved to New York. After moving to Norway in 1986, he played in several bands in Oslo, which influenced Mena to write and record her own music. When Mena was nine years old, her parents divorced. As a teenager, she began to battle depression and various eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, as spoken of in her lyrics, interviews, concerts, and social media. Mena has spoken of battling depression and PTSD as an adult, and seeking help.
Mena cared for her younger brother Tony for many years. When Mena was 13 years old, she moved to live with her father. She sang and wrote lyrics as a form of self-soothing. “My Lullaby”, a song from Mena’s diary, expresses her pain from her parents’ divorce. Mena’s father contacted acquaintances in the music industry to record a demo. Presenting his daughter’s demo to several record companies, Sony Music signed Mena to their label aged 16.
Here is one of my early poem on Mental distress.
STOP THE PAIN
it is eating me again!
Sharp, sharp steel blade
The only rlief , the only difference made.
STOP THE PAIN
Before it takes my life in vain
Please show me a better way
I can’t bleed through another day.
STOP THE PAIN
I don’t want to stay the same.
Please, please just someone help me
Save me from myself, don’t let death be the only thing to free me!!
STOP THE PAIN
My lips are sealed I am still sane.
Yet I cannot talk I cannot tell you.
But I want your help, honestly true.
STOP THE PAIN
it is eating me again!
Sharp, sharp steel blade
The only rleief , the only difference made.
© willowdot21
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Next Ren and I warn you this is very hard to watch as this young man has really gone through the mill and you can hear it in the word.
Ren Eryn Gill (born 29 March 1990), known professionally as Ren, is a Welsh singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, actor, and director. Ren has been a member of Trick the Fox and the Brighton-based busking band The Big Push, and has independently released the studio albums Freckled Angels (2016) and Sick Boi (2023).
Ren gained wide attention with the 2022 music video “Hi Ren”, which addresses illness and mental health. The video was nominated in the Best Music Video category at Camerimage in 2023.
Sick Boi reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 20 October 2023. In the United States, the album debuted at number 137 on the Billboard 200, and Ren reached number four on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart.
Ren has spoken publicly about living with Lyme disease and related chronic health problems. He has said that before receiving a Lyme disease diagnosis in 2015, he was treated for depression and was also misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and bipolar disorder.
Ren has Lyme disease, which went undiagnosed for many years, leaving him with ongoing health problems. Since becoming sick, Ren has said that his life’s work has been closely related to looking for better ways to deal with mental health issues.
Ren’s symptoms started in 2009. He was attending Bath Spa University at the time, and his symptoms caused him to struggle with his studies. His symptoms continued to worsen, getting to the point where he was bedridden for up to 23 hours a day.
For years, he went from doctor to doctor and therapist to therapist, trying to find out what was wrong with him. Lyme disease was misdiagnosed as bipolar disorder, because initially his symptoms would come and go. He was also misdiagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and depression. He was given numerous medications. His health only got worse and worse. When conventional treatments didn’t work, he tried numerous supplements and turned to alternative health practitioners and spiritual healing practices. Nothing worked. As a result, he developed stress-induced psychosis and PTSD.
Please be aware of those who are suffering.
willowdot21 
