There are events that happen in life that can cripple us from being able to move forward. It can feel like you’re lost in a cave or prison that you cannot escape from. Somewhere in your mind, you know you need to get up and move on. However, you’re just not mentally able to do it. What makes it worse is that people around you feel like you should be able to move on. The state in which you’re frozen prevents you from moving forward which makes being around you uncomfortable. Heck, you don’t like it any better than anyone else does.
TRADITIONAL THERAPY NOT AN OPTION?
Certainly, depending on the level to which you are unable to move forward, various forms of therapy may be necessary or could be an option. In many circumstances, going to therapy isn’t an option and that leaves you where you are now – stuck. I’m sorry to report there is no magic pill to get you over what is holding you back. Although, pharmaeuticals may help, medication alone isn’t going to fix you. The only thing that is going to help you move forward is your willingness to take steps to do what only you can do to get you over whatever it is that has hurt you or left you frozen in fear.
ACCESSIBILITY OF WRITING AS THERAPY
Processing what you are trying to get over through writing is a great avenue to take. It is accessible to everyone. If you know how to text, you can use writing to help yourself through the trauma that is holding you back. It’s accessiblity is also possible because it is an extremely cost-effective way to help yourself.
Beyond its ease and accessibliy, writing as “therapy” has been extensively studied over the last fifty years. There have been numerous studies covering all sorts of issues, illness, and ailments that have all demonstrated the great health benefits and improvements that can be made through writing. It has been shown to help cancer & HIV/AIDS patients, people suffering from PTSD, abuse, grief and severe mental illness diagonises.
WE AUTOMATICALLY AVOID OUR FEELINGS
How can something so easy be so successful? It’s simple. It only entails your willingness to do the work. Our society has invented just about every way possible for us to hide what ails us. There are now countless vices like alcohol, marijuana, drugs, porn, shopping, gambling, gaming, to take our mind out of our problems and forget what we want to forget and avoid. We will do just about anything we can think of to ourselves, in ourselves, and endangering ourselves in order to NOT think about or process things that make us feel bad.
WE WOULD RATHER RELY ON SHORT-TERM, SHORT-LASTING OPTIONS
Short-term, easy solutions seem so satisfying in the moment we engage in them that we think it will erase everything we are hiding from forever. Sadly, it never does. We don’t seem to care. We will continue to do all we can to avoid and numb our pain with things that ultimately don’t help just so we don’t have to talk or think about what we need to get over what is causing us problems.
So as easy and accessible as something like writing is, we know using it to help us get over something will only lead to more pain so we avoid it. “No pain, no gain.” “It’s darkest before the dawn.” “It is through persistence that change is created.” All true statements made to tell us that in order to get over something, we need to work through it.
What is it you are trying to get over? A bad breakup? A death in the family? The loss of a job, friend, or something else? The particulars don’t matter. It’s obviously important to you otherwise you wouldn’t be suffering. Whatever it is, it can be healed through writing.
RESEARCH SHOWS CONNECTING WRITING WITH EMOTIONS IS KEY
James Pennebaker, PhD., is a pioneer in writing as therapy and has written several books, conducted several studies, and has taught several workshops to demonstrate specifically how writing about our emotions caused by an event can lead to better health. His studies demonstrate that both those with serious medical conditions and those relatively normal can benefit from better health through writing.
The goal is to not write a historical retelling of the event as if it were a news account. Instead, your writing focus to heal needs to be about how you felt or feel about what has happened to you. What is the event or thing you are having a hard time getting over? Think about it. Then writing about how that traumatic event makes you feel. What emotions does it bring up? What is it linked to in other times of our life? Who is it linked to?
TRY IT FOR 3 DAYS!
In one of Pennebaker (site) studies, he challenged his university students to write for 3 days straight. He asked them to be open to their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding an event or a series of events and detail their deepest emotions surrounding the event(s). He reassued them that no one would read what they wrote so they would have the freedom to write everything that came to mind. He wanted them to think about how they felt, how the event(s) was linked to friends or family and how they think this event(s) shaped who they are now and who they could be in the future. Ultimately, he found that those that completed the assignment demonstrated improved attitudes, mental and physical health (Pennebaker & Chung 2011).
THE OPTIONS ARE ENDLESS SO TRY IT!
It doesn’t necessarily matter the course you take when writing. Whether it is writing in a journal or diary, using a guided journal, or writing assignments from a therapist or psychologist, the end result is the same. It can be traced to the simple expression of recording thoughts on paper in any fashion that alieves us of what we have been holding onto.
Again, the important factor is in your willingness to express your own thoughts and feelings about the event and the effects it has had on you with the idea of your better understanding of how what happened has affected you. Ultimately, we want to be able to find meaning in our lives and what has happened to us so we can successfully navigate the future. If we can overcome what has happened in the past, acknowledge how we felt about the event, and connect it to who we are now, we are stablizing ourselves for the future.
Whatever you are suffering from right now, take the small step of discovery and write about what is going on. Do it now! Find something to write with and on and write about how the event makes you feel right now. Just start writing. It is just the beginning of your path to discovery and recovery.
As you continue to write, you may decide to buy a professional guided journal that is designed to aid you in your specific recovery issue. You may even be drawn to seek additional professional help from a professional therapist or mental health coach.
THE IMPORTANT THING
The most important thing is that you start right now. You aren’t going to get over anything by just reading this or another article. You aren’t going to get over anything by eating that bag of chips or drinking that bottle of wine as good as they are. You need to take steps, small steps, now to start on your path. You can do it. Writing is easy! You don’t need anything else to start feeling better than something to write with and write on. Do it!
WRITE NOW THERAPY! 