Local author offers healing through her words
By Brandon Davis
Published in News on January 11, 2017 10:03 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Pamela Young is seen with her book "A Poet's Decree, Rhythm of Life" at the Wayne County Public Library on Monday.
Pamela Young captured negative thoughts in her mind with a written decree.
Her penned proclamation at age 28 to apprehend thoughts of sadness and loneliness, however, only occurred after a friend knocked on Pamela's door.
"I was going through a lot of hardship, and a friend of mine told me to write down the way I felt," she said. "I guess it was a means to get what was inside of me out."
As the words moved from her mind to her blank journal, she took hold of negative feelings and released them to a higher power -- and "A Poet's Decree: Rhythm of Life" began to mold.
Seventeen years later, Pamela looks at the final book of poetry which she published in November. Now, readers can make a decree of their own to take thoughts captive just as Pamela once did.
"I'm inspired to write because I've gone through a lot of adversities, and through that I've grown this compassion that has grown in me for other people," she said.
A native of Goldsboro, Pamela attended Edgewood Elementary School where a teacher asked her to recite lines from "The Animals' Christmas Eve" in the second grade. Pamela read the lines each day until her time to stand before an audience.
She stood as stage lights shined in her eyes and recited, "Two white doves on rafters high coo a quiet lullaby, 'Long ago in manger hay where little baby Jesus lay.'"
Unknown to Pamela, the path was set for her to read her own words one day.
"I'll always remember it," she said. "It's so strange because when you look back and you wonder how things were adding up, but you didn't really pay attention to it."
Pamela eventually graduated from Goldsboro High School, and she enrolled at Norfolk State University in Virginia for a degree in athletics. She eventually transferred to the University of Mount Olive for a major in psychology, but writing never left her future.
During the past 17 years, Pamela fell in love with Jesus Christ, she said. She said the love she has received from her Lord and Savior has led her to give thoughts of her childhood to him.
Pamela said she battled with depression as a teenager, but she said her negative thoughts followed her into adulthood.
"Those things carry over," she said. "So, in my 20s, at that time, I was struggling with depression. But I had the anecdote to write."
"It's amazing how those thoughts come back, and you have that same exact feeling and you're not there anymore."
In 2010, Pamela published her first book, "Stand, an Autobiography of Poems for Daily Living" about her life, but "A Poet's Decree" focuses on the compassion she has for others.
One poem in the book, "Shake it Off," inspires readers to stop thinking on the negative. She said the poem, along with 99 others in her new book, helps people overcome physical, spiritual, cultural and social aspects of life -- not just depression.
"Don't meditate on the bad things," she said. "It doesn't matter how many times you've been in a place, you have to shift into another gear or it will consume you."
Pamela said people can contact her at breathofapoet@yahoo.com if they have questions about her book. She said people can purchase her book at amazon.com/author/pamelamyoung.