I wake up every day and take a nice long stretch

Noticing my room is a mess

My energy cannot be spent on the trivial

Instead it is spent on the vital:

Getting up, sitting down, eating, breathing,

Speaking and feeling.

 

I am a MIW

A mental illness warrior if you please

My days are not lived out in ease

Mental illness frightens most

For some reason people think I resemble some kind

 Of crazy, unstable, emotional ghost

 

Instead I force myself in my seat while

My anxiety puts me through intense heat

Increased heart rate pounding in my ears, tense muscles, and

Swirling lights are what I feel day in and day out

 I simply battle to make it out

 

At the large drop of an object, I am wounded

From the noise that my PTSD loves to employ

I pick up on every little thing,

My hypervigilance in full gear

The flashbacks come in waves

I rely on myself to save

 

The screams that leave my estranged mouth

Do not stem from fear, they are a warriors noise

While thought to be emotionless I am not

My dictionary of emotions far extends your simple ten pages

I must push through these stages

To push my enemy back behind the gates

Where I try my hardest to not let

Them escape

 

Crowds of people are an ambush

I am attacked from both sides

They join forces and somehow I find the strength

To cope

 

There is hope

Perhaps one day I will be free of these demons

I will no longer need these heathens

But one thing I must impress upon you

 

I am no victim

I need no pity

I am a warrior

A MIW if you please

My message I need you to heed

 

What appears to take me down gives me strength

Gives me courage

Gives me hope

For my days are a lot harder than those

Who wake up with minds clear, not lost in their woes

I wear headphones to block out the intense noise

I succumb to attacks in front of people

But I will have you know I wear my badge proud

There are those who think it shouldn’t be allowed

 

I represent the teal ribbon without shame

I am just a fighter with no name

I am who I am because of this endless war

Apart of me wishes there was no more

All of it affects me to the core

 

But then I remember I am what I am

 And I do the best that I can

I am no prisoner of war

I am a MIW

 A mental illness warrior if you please