I was tagged by the beautiful Lyndsey Eden, last August (yes you read that right!) to write a post on why I write. It took me some time to build an online home to share it on. Here it is …
I’ve always been an over-thinker…
Over-thinking sends my head into a spin, thoughts whizzing at a million miles per hour. In no time, my head is overloaded from seeing a situation from all angles. And that’s when anxiety starts to creep in.
I’ve learnt that writing down what’s in my head helps to empty it a little. As my pencil moves across the page, it makes space for me to breathe a little deeper, allowing my thoughts to slow down again.
The writing starts out neat, considered, thoughtful, enquiring, but rapidly turns to a hastened scrawl as I empty my mind out onto the paper as quickly as the thoughts appear in my head, my writing almost illegible as I write to my inner rhythm. When my emotions make their way out onto the page, my feelings shift and change. When my writing slows down, becoming neater again, the storm in my mind passes. I review the debris on the page. Emotions released, I feel lighter, calm again. I see more clearly. I return to the feeling that everything is going to be ok.
I write so I know how I really feel.
Letting the words in my head pour out onto the page soothes me. As my words flow onto the paper, I acknowledge every thought, every feeling. I do my best not to judge what I see on the page and not to edit. I keep going until my hand comes to a stop and a sense of lightness has returned to me. There is space for me to see the thoughts and beliefs that were clogging up my mind. Emptying my mind in this way returns me to stillness. To what is.
I write to heal my heart. I write to express my deepest thoughts. I write to know who I am and how I feel. I write to calm my inner storms. I write to know that all is well.
Do you wish to know that too? How healing feels? How calming happens?
On days where you feel your mind overflowing, pick up a notepad. Head outside to the park (weather permitting!) and fill your lungs with fresh air as you watch the world go by. Write out your thoughts, allowing whatever comes up to pour onto the paper, helping you to release the clutter that’s making you feel restless and anxious.
I hope you return home feeling refreshed, ready to face the world again.
Do you have a writing practice? Whether it’s regular or occasional, what motivates it? How does it make you feel? I’d love for you to share your thoughts in the comments below.
Hi lovely Nichola, I’m fairly new to writing but I’ve found that it really does make me consider what’s going on in my mind, what I’m focussing on and perhaps why. For too long I’ve been living in my head, so I’m changing that to living from my heart. Writing certainly helps with this. Loved that you’ve shared your experience, it’s always helpful to know how others deal with the brain overload! x
I can relate to everything you say. Living from your heart, not your head… yay to that! x
that’s exactly how i feel when i write! I am an over thinker too, and writing down my thoughts let me go in the Action. Writing is a sort of relief for me, it bring me the attention on what is going on in my life and how to take part on it, sometimes i write down the solution of a problem sort before I realised i was in trouble with it, sometime it is all about intuition sometime just stream consciousness, what i know for sure is that writing help me to reconnect and clarify myself and set my mind free. So, thank you for sharing this!
I love that, sometimes you write out the answers to problems before you even realise they were bothering you. Setting the mind free is a good way to put it xx
Beautiful post, Nichola. I completely agree- especially on the line “I write so I know how I really feel.” In many ways, writing has been a way to digest experience for me, and I have the experience of writing slowly and then very fast and then slowly again. I love that. Sometimes it even tired my wrist out, but I feel so much clearer afterwards. Thank you for sharing this, it helped me clarify how I experience journaling as well. xo
Thank you Caroline. Yes, I find writing it out helps to understand the thoughts that are creating the feelings xx
Hi Nicola, can totally relate to this. Writing has helped keep me sane, getting all the niggles and worries, wild ideas, fantasies and joys down on the page, and yes, that feeling of being lighter by the end of it. I encourage all my clients to write write write. xox
Yes, there is a sense of purging and cleansing without spreading negativity that makes journaling feel so healing. x
There’s something about pen and paper for me. I love writing by hand. When I type I don’t feel as connected to what I’m “writing”. When I have a bunch of ideas of put them down on paper first before I type them but it does make for a chaotic office. Great post!
Thanks Sharice. I agree, there is something about writing with pen and paper that allows your thoughts and feelings to flow freely with a sense of connection you don’t get with technology. x
I love this – I hadn’t thought about it before, but I also find writing helps me clear my mind and figure out what’s really concerning me
Absolutely! It is such a useful process.
Oh yes! My favourite question to ask myself when I pick up my pen, is how do I really feel about this? If I already know the answer then it seems pointless in writing it! Much to relate to here :)