Poetry can help many people with their thoughts and feelings, and one woman has discovered it has freed her from her smartphone.
Charly Cox, 24, would spend up to 10 hours a day on her phone, scrolling through social media. Charly lives with anxiety and depression, exacerbated by ‘digital burnout’.
Today she still spends that time on her smartphone, however she now uses it to write poetry- which she says helps her cope with her illness.
To celebrate National Poetry Day, the BBC shared her story, and her latest poem…
Glowing
“I don’t need your hand in the street
I don’t need our parents to meet
I don’t need six months as a feat
I just want to know that all that’s between us
Beneath the sheets
Is your eyes and mine
Our legs intertwined
Instead of waking up to you on your phone.”
tell her to get out and take a good long walk and look at some birds. Exercise or reading a good, long book should chase the blues away. Anxiety and depression? Who can afford such attention-seeking bullshit?