Most of us are familiar with the expression “running for your life,” which means to get away from a physically dangerous situation and avoid bodily harm. Writing for your life could give you similar benefits. If you ever feel like you’re in a rut, annoyed, or just plainly frustrated – you don’t always necessarily need outside therapy. Writing it off your chest can serve as a really beneficial catharsis. It may restore your mind, loosen pent-up anger, and help you focus on where you felt lost before.

Writing down your thoughts can bring clarity. Too many people keep their thoughts to themselves, whether out of feelings of shame, lack of courage, or just simply – lack of friends. If we all had the money to see a professional, we would not have to unload our confusion on our friends. But we might be reluctant to burden our friends again, maybe even with the same old problem, and we know we are getting bothersome. This is when writing comes in. Write it off your chest and you may never have to read it again. (And you save your friends some trouble.) The paper absorbs the problem, and you choose what happens with the piece of writing– whether you burn it, send it off, or even publish it. You choose the time and place. Written words can wait.

There was a time I was so glad to have my writing as just such an outlet. When I moved back to Germany and experienced reverse culture shock, I was so glad to have my notebook nearby. With my attitude then, I would not have made any friends and I was barely able to keep the longtime friends I had. You can only mention unhappiness in your life a few times before you become a bore. It became clear to me that family and old friends expected me to be happy because I was back in my home country. But they had never left AND moved back again. They did and could not know what I experienced with reverse culture shock.

Writing loosens up pent-up anger. Have you ever felt so angry you wanted to call a person and tell them off? Well, it is better, first of all, to sit down and write a letter to that person. Once you sleep over it, you are glad you only wrote a letter – without posting it, of course— because you would not write, or for that matter say the same thing after a good night’s sleep. It is a real advantage to be able to revise one’s written words. Can you do the same with spoken words in anger? You can’t take them back. Another way – more dramatic I admit – is to write down your anger on a piece of paper and throw it down the toilet. Flush it out of your life.

There was a time when nothing seemed to go right in my life. It was the time when we were in the process of moving from the United States to Japan. I was annoyed by questions from our American friends, e.g., “Why would you want to move to Japan?” I was ill-tempered and I knew it. That is when my husband suggested keeping a journal, and I have been writing ever since. (In case you’re wondering – that was 15 years ago.)

Writing helps you focus. Whether it is making a list of pros and cons about a decision or just putting your thoughts in chronological order will help you recognize a possible solution to the dilemma. Writing takes effort and there will be a reward. As a matter of fact – after I just reread what I had written I noticed I was mostly unhappy either directly before a move or after arriving. I suppose my emotions during these times were off-balanced, and rightly so. One’s inner self has to go through the transition as well.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor; therefore, I’m not presenting medical advice.

For those interested in learning more about writing and its different aspects:

Inner Journeying Through Art-Journaling: Learning to See and Record Your Life as a Work of Art.

Some other posts you might like to read

• I have been walking for more than 45 years
• English Word Game
• Listening by phone

This entry was posted on Friday, September 14th, 2007 at 8:37 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.