I Distracted Myself With Poetry During My Depression – Chimamanda Adichie

Popular writer Chimamanda Adichie has said that she went through a difficult battle with depression. Adichie recently revealed that during that troubling period, she almost silenced her love for fiction.

According to Chimamanda, her struggle with depression left her deeply unhappy for many years, but she constantly distracted herself with speeches, reading, and poetry to cope.

She admitted that much of the healing process eventually came down to patience.

Her words, “I was fighting depression. In that period, just deeply unhappy. Deeply unhappy. And there are ways to try and hide your unhappiness, but you know, it’s there. It’s a constant sort of shadow with you. And it’s not a good place to be.

So in the years that I couldn’t write — and really not being able to write fiction when fiction is a thing that you deeply love — it’s just a terrible place to be.

I did a number of things. I tried to distract myself. I said yes to many more things than I ordinarily would because I just thought the writing is not happening… but then I’d come back and be miserable.

In the end, it’s just about waiting and hoping. You’re not in control of this thing.”

WOW.