How writing can help with stress
If you are under stress or going through a difficult experience such as grieving a loss or managing a chronic illness, journaling about your thoughts and feelings may help you cope and could even improve your health! Many studies have shown that people who write about their thoughts and feelings surrounding stressful experiences show improvements in health and wellbeing domains such as lowered heart rate, increased immunity, better sleep, and increased self-esteem. Plus, the impact of writing for just a few minutes over a few days can last up to several months! This type of writing is sometimes called expressive writing or therapeutic writing, and is a little different from merely journaling about whatever is on your mind.
Why might writing about stress be healing? For one, writing takes time and forces us to slow down. When mulling problems over in our head we may not really slow down and process how we are actually feeling – we instead get stuck on worries such as “will this ever end?” When we write about what bothers us, we must sit with uncomfortable experiences. This allows us to truly experience and work through the difficult emotions that come with these experiences, which guides us to come to a better understanding of them, rather than getting caught up in a battle to try and suppress the thoughts, which often leads to more distress.
Expressive writing is also beneficial because it provides an opportunity to find and create meaning in the midst of struggle. When we pause to write about our experiences, we might come to new discoveries such as how what we have struggled with has created resilience in us, allowing us to find new reserves of strength we didn’t know we had. We might also find a new, kinder perspective – when we look at something through the lens of writing we have the opportunity to move away from blaming ourselves to seeing how much of what we are dealing with is not our fault.
Journaling about emotional experiences may also provide calm. For example, writing about a positive experience or a peaceful place can help evoke feelings of happiness, contentment, and relaxation, which can mitigate the stress you may be going through.
Some tips to get started
- Write without concern for grammar, spelling, or structure. You’re not writing for an audience, so don’t let concerns about how things sound impede your process.
- Write for yourself – keep this in a private journal, or even get rid of your writing when you are done. Having concerns about what others will think could have an effect on your ability to really be honest about what you’re feeling.
- Things might get a little uncomfortable. This process works because it requires you to open yourself up to the emotions you are experiencing, and some of those emotions aren’t pleasant. But the alternative, which involves trying to stuff down our emotions and not feel them, often leads to more stress.
- Don’t use this process for a particularly difficult or traumatic memory. If you feel that expressive journaling is opening you up to something raw and scary – stop the process and consider finding a therapist who can help guide you through this.
A few writing exercises to try
The best way to find benefits through expressive writing is to use a guided prompt, which can help elicit the meaning-making process that is crucial for healing. Here are a few exercises you can try:
- Write about a difficult emotional experience for several minutes. Next, write about the experience in the third person or from another person’s perspective. Consider ways in which this person might feel empathy and kindness towards you and the difficulties you went through. Finally, write about how this experience added meaning to your life.
- Think of an experience that brought you feelings of intense joy or happiness. This might be seeing a breathtaking view of nature, falling in love, or being swept up by a moving book, piece of music, or art. Spend a few minutes writing about the emotions and feelings you can recall experiencing in that moment, in as vivid detail as possible. Try to re-experience all the thoughts and feelings you were having through the writing process.
- Write a letter to someone thanking them for the impact they have had on your life. Share how they taught, inspired, or supported you and how you have used this gift in your life. Describe how your life has changed for the better because of their influence.
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