A wonderful essay by Shateek Palmer, a young man who turned to writing to cope with a difficult life:
The first time I ever wrote about my feelings was when my grandmother was placed in the hospital. I was 9 years old. I knew I had to be strong for her, so I wrote about how much I loved her. I wrote in a notebook because I didn’t want to show my feelings to other people….
To this day, I still write in a notebook, usually three pages every night before bed. It takes two to three weeks to fill up a notebook, and I have a stack of notebooks next to my dresser, starting from when I was 10.
I hope Shateek fills many more stacks of notebooks, hopefully with happier things than they’ve held so far.
Read more at Guest Post | A Teenager on How Writing Helps Makes Sense of His Loss – NYTimes.com.
What a wonderful story, but I’m very sorry he’s had to have such a hard life. I can relate to writing in notebooks to help through difficult times. It’s a very effective therapy for me, and I’m glad that is seems to have also been able to serve that way for Shateek!
Here’s to Shateek writing about much more uplifting experiences in the future. Good for him!
I know Shateek from CPEHS. I worked with Vilma in her office I remember till this day him showing me the article about his grandmother. As someone who is working towards becoming a Guidance Counselor when I think about Shateek the term resilient comes to mind. I’m happy he’s working towards his goals.