Updated on October 12, 2026
How a shy military kid found his voice on the page, and the five ways writing poetry can change your life, too.
5 ways poetry changed my life
It helps you untangle your thoughts and cope with hard emotions.
It makes you a better communicator.
It changes the way you see the world and other people.
It pushes you to live a life worth writing about.
It records your memories and life lessons for the people who come after you.
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Poetry will change your life.
I grew up moving around a lot. My father was in the U.S. Army for over 25 years, my parents divorced when I was young, and then I decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps for five years. I am very grateful for the opportunities that I have had in my life, but it goes without saying that I faced obstacles.
As a child and teenager, moving around a lot meant that I had trouble making and keeping connections with friends (especially before smartphones and social media were a thing). As a young adult, my lack of social connections created a very shy version of me. I wasn't very confident, and I knew it.
How Books and Writing Became My Escape
The connections and conversations that I didn't have with people, I instead had with the pages I read in novels and the pages I wrote in my journals. As time passed, I learned more about the world through my books. I also learned more about myself through the many hours I would spend on self-reflection.
Poetry was the catalyst that led me on a journey of self-discovery. I have been writing seriously for over a decade and independently publishing for about ten years now. Throughout that time, I learned that poetry is more than an art. It's a necessity, at least for me.
1. Poetry Helps You Untangle Your Thoughts
During moments of confusion, anger, sadness, or pain, poetry became a tool that helped me untangle my thoughts and organize my ideas.
As I put pen to paper, the words that would flow revealed to me problems that I didn't know were even there before, insecurities that I still had to deal with but often chose to ignore. Writing poetry put my thoughts and feelings into words, which also led me to solutions to my problems.
2. Poetry Makes You a Better Communicator
Because I didn't have a large group of friends growing up, I had to practice my communication skills differently.
Writing poetry, reflecting on my thoughts and ideas, and finding different words to express myself helped me improve my communication across all my relationships. Poetry helped me learn to accurately describe and communicate when I was happy and when I was genuinely hurt. After putting my feelings into words first, I found it easier to share them with others.
Through that, I learned to put the positive or negative consequences of my actions and other people's actions into perspective, and to let myself or others know when something was right or wrong. This process also helped me cope with and understand complex emotions.
3. Poetry Changes the Way You See the World
“When you put your feelings into words, it changes the way you see the world.”
As I described love in my poems, I learned what is felt beyond the heart, what we express through body language, and what we would be willing to do for that emotion. At the same time, I learned how to notice sadness in others, which helped me understand when to be more compassionate and empathetic, especially when I have been in a similar situation before.
4. Poetry Pushes You to Live a Life Worth Writing About
Continuing to live that life is what I have promised myself ever since I started writing. Thanks to my military career, travels, and relationships with friends and family, I have been blessed with the opportunity to experience and learn things many people don't get the chance to in their lives. (I wrote more about this idea in A Writer Is the Sum of His Experiences.)
5. Poetry Records Your Memories and Life Lessons
In the author's note at the end of my award-winning poetry book, Bittersweet: Poems on Love, Loss & Wanderlust, I say one of the most significant reasons I write is to leave something behind for future generations. Through my poetry, my short stories, and whatever other writings I leave behind, I want my daughter, and the children and grandchildren after her, to get to know a part of me that existed before they did. And I want to leave as much wisdom in those words for them so they can learn from my mistakes and learn to live a life worth writing about too.
“We write not just for ourselves, but for all those who read our words and are blessed by them.”
Because I believe in the immense power of poetry, I shared the skills I have learned over a decade of writing in my online course, Becoming a Poet: A Course to Unlock Your Writing Potential. It will help you discover your voice as a unique poet by learning to write impactful poetry, using effective strategies to find inspiration and craft evocative imagery.
Every day you do not write poetry is a missed opportunity to learn more about yourself.
Common Questions About Writing Poetry
What are the benefits of writing poetry?
Writing poetry helps you untangle your thoughts and cope with difficult emotions, makes you a better communicator, builds empathy for others, pushes you to live a life worth writing about, and records your memories and life lessons for future generations.
Can writing poetry help you understand your emotions?
Yes. Putting feelings into words on the page can reveal problems and insecurities you didn't know were there, and help you find a way through them. Once you've written what you feel, it also becomes easier to share it with others.
Beautiful poetry prints for your walls.
Meet the author
Born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, raised in a military family, and a former U.S. Marine. Pablo Camacho has written more than eight books in English and Spanish, including the Pencraft Award–winning Bittersweet, and is currently writing his first horror stories. He lives in Florida with his wife and daughter.