Deborah Emmanuel

Deborah Emmanuel is a poet and a performer (slam poet) which I found it very unique and new. The fact that she performs her poem, I felt that the audience can understand her emotions by her pace and pitch and her expressions on her face. Instead of writing her poem and publishing it, I thought that she is very brave to talk in front of people with a Q and A sessions, despite the fact that she was in jail for a year. Her talk about her life was very touching. I found it amazing how she stands up and carries on evolving in her life, even when she had to face a lot of things. I heard that once people go to jail, many have difficulties in their future lives, but Deborah who performs her poetry and tells her story to many people is incredible. Even when she felt like she’s an outsider and even when her mom died, she was able to overcome it.

She proved that no matter how low your life can be, it is possible to rise up. I am shocked by her strong spirit because I have experienced depression and there were times when felt like I am not worth living, and it is not easy to get out of floods of anxiety and depressions. It takes a lot of time and courage but it is not easy to gain confidence. She inspired me to carry on with my life and see my “untangled mess” and figure out what’s wrong and what to do. When someone asked if she wants to give advice to her younger self what she wants to tell and she answered, “it’s going to be okay”. The reason why she doesn’t want to give advice that can change her life because she wants her younger self to have those experiences to evolve. This struck me because I have a lot of regrets and I wanted to redo some parts of my life, a lot of times. But after listening to her words, I think to myself that things that didn’t want to happen to me actually helped me evolve. For example, my vascular malformation in my left leg stopped me from doing everything I loved but it helped me become mentally stronger, helped me to accept the negatives and to be positive as possible. I think this helped me develop and my past helped me shape who I am right now.