Lyrical Essay Introduction

For this unit in English, we were assigned to write a lyrical essay of any topic of our choosing. A lyrical essay is essentially an essay that takes some characteristics of a poem such as its structure and use of language. The topic I chose to wrote about was my experience with OCD and how I learned to cope with it.

You’re always in the back of my mind. 

I constantly wonder how you got here. You’ve been here for as long as I could remember. You were much nicer back then. However, you’ve now become more hostile. 

       Perfect

For many years I was able to coexist with you. You were there for every significant moment in my life. Getting my braces, many birthdays, my first day of high school, and much more. I never liked it. But I was okay with it. My complacency over the years allowed its growth to be how I see my OCD today. A parasite. A parasite that leeches off of me whenever it feels right to do so. You ask of me to do the most bizarre acts, which I have now become accustomed to. Whoever is reading this probably has little knowledge of what these acts consist of so let me describe them.

Every morning of the first half of my eighth grade year, waking up to go to school was hell. Thinking of the rituals I’d have to perform once I got out of bed heavily discouraged me from continuing on with my day. Once I got out of bed, I’d open any door at least 30 times or until it felt right, I’d avoid looking at specific letters and numbers while eating breakfast, and I’d have to touch water faucet handles perfectly in order to continue with my morning routine. These rituals would essentially fuel myself for the day. If I didn’t provide myself with the necessary “fuel” I wouldn’t be able to operate properly. 

Everytime I asked you to take it easier on me, you would, and I appreciate that, however when you’d come back, it’d be significantly worse. 

If I had to touch my pencil 5 times before, now it had to be 50. 

If I touched my phone 7 times before, you asked for 70. 

And I simply agreed. I agreed because it made me happy. If you were happy I was too. I thought by doing what you wanted you’d eventually go away. But eventually, I figured that was never the case. Doing these rituals only kept you satisfied temporarily, which also goes for me and my rituals.

Although it hasn’t always been easy, you’ve taught me many lessons that I probably wouldn’t have learned until later in my life. You gave me a more complex understanding of emotions, and how my actions and mindset affect them more than I previously thought. You also taught me a tremendous amount of patience throughout the years. Most importantly, however, you have taught me that everybody has a secret person like you. A person that makes them sad, nags at their insecurities, makes them anxious, etc. No matter how much we wish for you to go away, you won’t. Instead we have to accept the fact that you’re there and learn how to cope with it, which is what I’ve done for many years. I can proudly say that doing this has helped me then and helps me now with whatever I’m going through.

I used to always wish, and still sometimes do, that one day you’d disappear. However, you’re going to have a permanent place in my head. I have many things to dislike you for and many things to thank you for. Whether I like it or not, you are an essential part of me. At the end of the day, I won’t be able to kick you out, but instead, I will just have to learn to live with you.

Lyrical Essay Production

For my Lyrical Essay Production I created a photographic that included a message relating to my essay. The production included taking a picture and editing it within Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. In these programs I created a silhouette of my image and wrote short message that matched the topic of my essay.

Reflection

During this production I was able to further build upon my existing skills in these programs by creating something that required me to implement my skills in ways I haven’t done before.