Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
Feb 2016 · 1.3k
The Last Percent
RisingUp Feb 2016
I have an infection
I can't tolerate imperfection.

I've lived with it for so long,
But now I'm caught up in its throng

In elementary,
I cried when I got a B

In high school I took control,
And now I'm paying its toll.

Worrying, studying, crying,
As I feel the inside of me dying

Concerned about that extra mark
I ruminate on one percent in the dark

My self worth is tied to each grade,
97.5% and I am dismayed

This feeling's not right
Towards myself I feel spite,

I need to learn to be free
To reduce this anxiety

My thought patterns need to rearrange
With hard work and time I have no choice but to
change
Jan 2016 · 401
Gone
RisingUp Jan 2016
Twirling through the motions
Emotions by my side
Trying to maintain my hope and pride

I thought I'd felt devotion
Sipped Aphrodite's magic potion
But now all I feel is empty inside

A butterfly with broken wings
I had been fluttering on by
And you held me softly
When I thought that I would die

But not long after you turned away
When I thought you were here to stay

Predictions
Convictions

Led me to be a victim
Of my own heartbreak.
Jan 2016 · 348
Expectations
RisingUp Jan 2016
This guilt, this pain
Is embedded in me like a stain

I never feel like I've done enough
Accomplished enough
What is enough?

I cycle through my days
Through a never ending maze

Even if I reach a goal,
I feel the need to take on another role

Until I stretch myself so thin,
Any leisure time is considered a sin.

I can't be a robot,
I can't be Mother Mary

I can try to do my best,
but my lack of satisfaction is scary
Dec 2015 · 548
Me
RisingUp Dec 2015
Me
Today I've decided just to be me
Today I've decided to not care what others see

I don't want to be on the pursuit
Of pretty or thin,
I'd rather be on the pursuit,
Of the girl that lies within.

This may not be easy
In fact, it's very tough
Thanks to media and advertisements,
but now I've had enough.

Lose weight, get longer lashes,
Make your body flawless and pretty.
But we fail to idealize individuality,
Instead label imperfections, what a pity.

So now I'll take a stand,
against the companies that push their brand.

I don't need their things to be happy,
for they promote false goals.

I need to learn to accept being me
Without caring what my internal critics,
or others
see.
Dec 2015 · 471
Swirling
RisingUp Dec 2015
This illness is a monger
Its pain I can take no longer

It almost took my life away
But from now on I'm here to stay

For I will fight its terrible wrath
And continue paving my own path

Because I am stronger than its grip
Its disguised poison I'll no longer sip.
Dec 2015 · 691
Mental
RisingUp Dec 2015
A documentary watched
Displaying the lives of the broken
The tortured

We are able to understand physical abuse
But mental abuse,
Is pushed to the side

And so the mentally ill ride this never-ending tide
Of stigma, misunderstanding, misinterpretation

You broke your leg? Get a cast at the doctor's.
You have a sore throat?  A quick strep test will work.
A voice in my head tells me I'm not good enough and shouldn't eat....

Asking an average person gives you the average answer,
What? How can you not eat? That makes no sense.
And thus you're pushed behind a fence.
Dealing with your thoughts and flaws internally
As you fade for what seems like the rest of eternity

For most, it's impossible to comprehend
How one could hate themselves so much
That they'd rather be thin, or smart, or pretty,
or else have their life end.

Depression, schizophrenia, anorexia nervosa
Bipolar disorder, bulimia, obsessive compulsive disorder.
Diseases of the mind
Cures which dedicated people are trying to find.

Yet until then they live with these conditions
And people's misconceptions

But if just one person lends a listening ear
A non-judgmental interaction,
They can provide help to many far and near.
Dec 2015 · 1.6k
Enough
RisingUp Dec 2015
I am not adequate
I'm never enough
For my own expectations
Which are incredibly tough

My imperfections and flaws
Are pointed out, for sure
Mental slave drivers don't pause
From their enduring hurt

Yet these expectations are invented by me
Nobody else says I'm not enough
From this mental state, I'd like to be free
I'm tired of this self-battering stuff
Dec 2015 · 444
Lure
RisingUp Dec 2015
They whisper in my ear
Preying on a fear

A fear of not measuring up.

Listen to me, they say
Your failures will go away

You'll be special and exalted

They tell me I'll be amazing,
better than my peers
For restriction is an achievement
Regardless of the tears

Hunger is control
Control is the answer
Nobody understands you anyways,
Listen to the internal master

Remember how you hated yourself?
Despised your reflection in the mirror?
At least when you were sad
Your "perfect body" brought you cheer.

Yet despite these promising phrases
I know the impending hazes

So I will fight this easy path
And free myself from this wrath

For I am special in my own right
because I have something to give
I can help others
I choose to live
Dec 2015 · 350
Mirrors
RisingUp Dec 2015
For the first time
In a long time
I step foot through the door.

To the exercise class I did so much before.

The room covered in mirrors,
Used to induce my greatest fears.

But now, things are different.

I look in the mirror, don't love what I see.
But know for a fact that super thin isn't me.

Just before the class is about to start,
A sight entering the room makes my eyes dart

The sight of a girl, thin as a rail, frail, ailing.

To others she may look thin,
But I'm able to see the disorder within.

It brings to mind a different kind of mirror.
How I used to look, sick and scared.

My heart cries for her because I know the pain
What it feels like to believe you deserve to wane

Our society glorifies fullness in bank accounts and objects,
Yet objectifies thinness, imperfections are faults.

Yet another emotion emerges from me,
I'm glad I'm no longer sick like her,

Will she seek recovery?
Nov 2015 · 906
Never Quite Enough
RisingUp Nov 2015
The demons are cackling
My self confidence is crackling

Weighing
     down
       my
         heart.

My disobedience they mock,
These imperfections are a shock.

As they shatter me apart.

Trying so hard to excel,
to be dropped in a well

What is any of this for?

To wallow in error,
Reignites the horrible terror.

Really, you should accomplish more.

They whisper negativity,
Prey on my insecurities,
Diminish my abilities,

A never ending cycle of not being good enough.
Not measuring up.

Perpetual exhaustion.
Perpetual dissatisfaction.
Perpetual degradation.

To fight this fight
To win this war
I must stay strong.
Let the positivity roar.
Nov 2015 · 616
Reversal
RisingUp Nov 2015
If I told you

My past

Would you run and hide?

People tell me to wait

But, now I think it's your time to decide

Will you understand my struggles?

Probably not, I fear,

Those piercing thoughts that ******* me

When I'm standing before a mirror

I also fear

My fragility

The delicateness of my mental state

For if this goes much further

And I reveal my true state,

It's better for you to run now

Than wade too deep, then escape.
Nov 2015 · 539
Replay
RisingUp Nov 2015
The demons are on replay today

Circling through my mind.

I’m trying to tell them they’re not telling the truth

Yet somehow, it’s hard to find

The words to say back to them

As they batter me inside

One glimpse at a mirror is all they need

To crush my soul and pride.

You’re fat, you’re ugly, you’re worthless

As though my appearance is the epitome

Of my future destiny

As though it matters how I look.

I try to be strong, to fight their throng,

of never ending bashes,

yet sometimes I am prone to crashes,

where tears fall from my lashes

and I feel as though I’ve been reduced to ashes.

But I must fight, I must continue on.

For an ending isn’t the solution.

No matter how much I want to curl up in a ball

And hide from all

I can’t be small, I must stand tall.

You’re not a burden, you’re a human,

With so much more to you than looks and appearance.

So fight the urge to restrict
This is the real Laura’s edict.
Nov 2015 · 563
I
RisingUp Nov 2015
I
Illness

May begin with the letter I,

Yet many illnesses

Are unseen to the attentive eye
Nov 2015 · 2.2k
The Vase
RisingUp Nov 2015
If you look closely

You will see

The cracks and fault lines

That comprise me

From the outside, to the unattuned eye

I look like a normal vase,

For the glue is now dry.

Truth be told

I was smashed

Obliterated

Pieces essential to my core

Strewn haphazardly across the floor.

But thanks to those that saw me,

And a little internal conviction.

My pieces have been collected

My old form resurrected.

Thanks to a little glue

I appear to be almost brand new.

But don't be deceived

For what you perceive

Should not be completely believed.

For the vase is very fragile,

Not to be toyed with.

Not a player's game.

Please don't mishandle me,

And resurface days of misery.
Nov 2015 · 1.5k
Who Am I?
RisingUp Nov 2015
Today I was told.

I don't know who I am.

An absurd remark?

Perhaps.

Or a sad realization.

A slave to the grades.

"Do that for your resumé!"

Try harder, you must be the best.

Perfect, perfect.

From school to work to food consumption,

the slave driver in my head allows no interruption.

And what has this created?  What is this Frankenstein?

A girl involved in so much, yet without her own mind.

What are her passions?  What gives her real joy?

What's hidden behind that achievement ploy?

For now, there's no answer.

She's perfectionism's fine dancer.

Yet with some searching and fun,

The puppet show may finally be done.
Oct 2015 · 727
Hands
RisingUp Oct 2015
These hands tell a story
A story of the unknown
Of a girl who tried to **** herself
Bury herself under a stone.

On the outside they appear thin,
Veiny and scarred.
A relic of the old days.
When times were very hard.

When restriction was the answer.
Ruled her thoughts and mind.
Shriveling away was the solution.
A disappearance of a kind.

Others just see thin hands
But for her memories burn from the past
The view of these emaciated hands
Remind her of how she almost couldn't last

Recovery on her fingertips
A war fought in her mind.
These hands are a painful reminder
Of the past she's trying to leave behind
Oct 2015 · 675
0 Worth
RisingUp Oct 2015
Imagine a voice.

The voice of negativity.

Sitting prettily in the back of your head.

Judging your every move.

Your every inclination.

You got one wrong on a test?
You ******* up.
How could you be so dumb?
Try harder next time.

You had a treat?
Who says you deserve that?
Certainly not I.
You lazy, fat, sloth.

Is that your reflection in the mirror?
Now isn't that terrifying?
That acne, that hair.
Yikes.

I run amok in your mind.

I control your every last move.

Just try to escape my wrath.

You blubbering, bumbling fool.
Oct 2015 · 418
The Corner
RisingUp Oct 2015
She presses her bony back up against the wall and crouches into a ball.

The pain she feels inside is too horrible to hide.

Everyone can see it, she’s ashamed of how she looks.

But the illness wails on.

It tells her she’s not smart enough.

Not good enough to be loved.

You? You’re a sick freak, how could anyone like you?

You made a mistake? Now wallow in regret as it gnaws at your very core.

A year ago there certainly is nothing you wanted more.

Than to be a bit lighter, like those other girls.

Like the athletic girl you used to be.

No more sweets, no more food luxuries.

Perpetual restriction is the key.

At first, others commented on the body she attained.

Until she continued on and on, until barely anything remained.

Desperate for some help, she held on for dear life.

As her parents endlessly convinced her, in the future there’d be less strife.

She lived as a zombie for months and months on end.

Restriction, self hatred, and hopelessness, filled the thoughts in her head.

You ate a bit of dessert?  You broke your cardinal rule.

All you wanted is to lose some weight, but look at you, you fool.

Now she lives with the constant reminders, of the horror that occurred.

Her hair, thin and brittle, dry as straw.

Her skin, yellowed and bruised, scarred from the pain within.

Her all too thin appearance, makes her not want to be touched.

She fears intimacy, and letting others feel her cold hands.

Yet when she goes to eat, that demon is stuck on replay.

Remember how you hated yourself?  Don’t ***** up your intake.

A loss of control is a loss of self worth.  Which you barely have anyways.

Perfect your food intake and you can escape that dreadful regret.

You’re broken, so broken.

Yet out of the sobs and trembling, the girl utters a phrase

“My strength emanates from my cracks, which will cover them

and cure my haze”
Oct 2015 · 457
The Kitchen
RisingUp Oct 2015
The cold handles of the kitchen cabinets dig into her thinly covered back.  Sobs emerge from her unnaturally cold, tired body.  
Yawns interrupt her cries for understanding, as she is unable to deal with the extreme exhaustion.  
Why her?  
Why has she allowed the drive for perfection to infiltrate her vessel?  Why did she give into society’s insecure perception of beauty, instead of building her own self confidence and decisions about appearance herself?
Her inability to cope with a growing, changing body.  
That’s what drove her to insanity and perfection in food intake.

Now she sits on the kitchen floor, pondering her downfall.  
The veins clearly visible in her hands.  
Her hands creepily thin.  
She can feel it all over her body, the thin layer of protection she has.  She’s horribly ashamed of the way she looks.  
She knows she’s too thin, but struggles to conquer her disordered thinking patterns and perfectionistic thoughts she has carried for so long about food.  
All the hate she harboured for her “fat” body, has transferred to her thin body.  
She’s ashamed beyond belief of the way she looks.  
She doesn’t want to be seen in a bathing suit.  
She still refuses to look into a mirror.  
She let something as simple and insignificant as food take over her life and shrivel her very being.  

She doesn’t even know who she is.

— The End —