Writing for Your Health

By Donna Kostiew

I like to write. Though I’m not sure that I am good enough at it to quit my day job, it’s something that I enjoy doing when I need a little quiet in my life. Writing, like other creative outlets, can really help to maintain a balance in life. It’s important to have an outlet where you can turn life “off” for a bit and express your feelings. It’s a great support for your emotional health and may very well help to avoid the sometimes debilitating symptoms of stress. And the good thing about it is you can write for your eyes only. Whew! That alone takes away the stress of needing to have perfect grammar and sentence structure.

Why Writing is Healthy

Writing can have an amazing impact on your emotional and mental health because it allows you an outlet to express feelings that may otherwise be held in. It’s not a cure-all, but it can definitely lead to a healthier expression of repressed feelings from anger, sadness, depression, and anxiety. On the other hand, writing can also help with creativity and productivity. What better way to document thoughts and ideas than to grab a piece of paper (or a keyboard) and write it down? You don’t have to be a natural writer either, and you certainly don’t have to be a grand storyteller if you are just writing for yourself. All you have to do is put pen to paper, or fingertip to keyboard, and start.

How to Start

Writing can be personal or public, depending on the subject matter and the medium you choose to write on, and you can pretty much write about anything you want. It can be extremely therapeutic if you choose to write about something close to your heart or it can be pretty benign if, for example, you are writing about your beige carpet. Not everyone wants to share their innermost struggles and feelings, but then there are others who appear to be open faucets and let it all come out. Once you determine your level of comfort and decide on some topics to write about, get ready! As soon as you put that first word down, there may be no stopping you and your creative flow.

Where to Write

There are so many options to document your writings apart from the traditional paper and pen, and it all depends on who you want to share your thoughts with. You can start a journal, which is typically something that is done on a daily or weekly basis and is more personal and private. You could go online and blog or join writing groups. Of course with that, you could potentially have a wide audience so be careful with what you share. Or you could simply bring back the lost art of writing letters to family and friends.

Writing is not for everyone, but it is perhaps one of the most effective forms of expression in today’s stressful world! Give it a try if you have a quiet moment to kill. You may actually enjoy it!

To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Farmington, Utah.