The Pain Resurfaced
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Description
Information about myself:
My name is Andy Kongolo and I’m 22 years old. I’m a junior at Bennington College and I study Acting. I make music as a hobby and I hope to turn it into a full time job.
Abstract:
I wrote this poem when I was going through a difficult time in my life. That moment forced me to reconsider some of the choices I had made for my life and how they were affecting me. One of them was my absolute denial to see a therapist because I thought it was for the weak and broken and I didn’t want to think of myself as that. It was a tough process of letting go of certain ideas of myself and of the world that I was holding because I thought holding those positions made me congruent with my identity. But deep down, I wasn’t sure what my identity was. I was searching and searching in order to find myself. After going through that, I know that my experience is not unique. A lot of people go through what I have gone through, but it’s often not talked about. I was lucky enough to ‘heal’ myself through music and long periods of self-reflection and brutal honesty towards myself, but I know for many that’s not the case. Especially as a young black man coming all the way from Africa. I think it’s important to raise awareness around mental health for everyone. For people of every race and every gender. We all struggle in some ways and telling stories of people who struggle with it makes it an open topic and encourages people to be upfront about it.
Publication Date
Spring 3-29-2024
Publisher
Andy Kongolo
City
Lake Forest
Keywords
Therapy, Trauma, Pain
Type of Media
Writing
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities
Recommended Citation
Lake Forest College and Kongolo, Andy, "The Pain Resurfaced" (2024). Black Album Mixtape. 31.
https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/blackalbummixtape/31