Writing Your Way to Better Mental Health

Research on reflective writing indicates that the mental health benefits are outstanding. Yet the world is in a state of major mental health crisis.

Not that I would say journaling or creative writing is a cure-all solution. All I know is that zero of the people surveyed throughout my life are even trying it. I rarely come across someone who even reads regularly.

Unless they are doing it and they feel like nerds, so they don’t admit it. Typical.

Today I’ll give you nerds some pointers on how to get started with a writing habit and the benefits to look forward to.

Keep in mind that I’m just a boy. Just a writer. Not a professional. This is all my opinion and some stuff I’ve read on the internet. Kinda like everything else on the web. So do not trust me. I always post my sources at the bottom of my writing.

Writing Changes The Unseen

We live in a world driven by performance and appearances.

How fit are you? How good are you at what you do? How much shit can you take?

While strides have been made toward mental health awareness, it still tends to fall to the wayside next to life’s other concerns. Naturally so, considering that it’s not a tangible thing to be observed.

A daily writing habit can improve your mental health, and it’s easy to maintain as long as you can commit 10–20 minutes a day.

Writing Improves Calmness, Memory, and Self-Esteem

If you’ve got an embarrassing, painful, or cringy thought you wish you could evict from your brain — write it down. Stop trying to yell it out in the shower.

When you write, you are literally taking thoughts from your head and placing them onto a page. As it leaves your head, you are processing. Then finally it is all on the page and you have to face it.

Don’t worry if you don’t want to read it when it’s finished. You can burn it if you want to! Yes, burn it and watch it disappear as the flames dance in your eyeballs… Um, sometimes the only therapeutic effect necessary is getting it out onto the page.

Have you ever talked with someone about a problem, when you suddenly see the solution in the middle of the conversation? This happens to me a lot when I text about an issue.

There is a bit of magic in writing down your problem because it allows your brain to see it in a different dimension, and you can actively solve problems that way.

Why Write When You Can Type?

I would never assume there’s no benefit to getting everything out on the screen if that’s all you have available. However, scientists did find that writing, specifically handwriting, promotes better memory and learning.

Intricate hand motions and greater sensory engagement (vs typing) better engage connectivity patterns in the brain that are related to encoding new information and storing memory.

It all sounds very “sciencey” to me, but trust me. You can trust me.

How I Feel After Writing

Writing puts me in a more present state of mind against the frantic anxiety of everyday thoughts. It narrows my problem down to the one I am writing on the page, or takes me to the fictional world I’ve conjured in my mind.

Not only is it a decluttering process, but it also forces me to spend time with myself and analyze my thoughts for more than a split second. Spending 10–20 minutes a day with yourself to check in — whether it is journaling or creatively weaving your ideas into a story — is a total vacation for your mind.

If we turn our attention toward the head meat, it causes the head meat to purr and enter a state of focus and calm. It’s the only way that we can be friends with the head meat.

Self-assurance, peace, and positivity are some of the mental rewards for getting to know yourself better.

A Quick List of Journal Starters

While there are guided journals, such as Burn After Writing by Sharon Jones, there are people more interested in the unforgiving void of a directionless blank page. If this is you, maybe rethink it. Directions could be fun, right? It’s hard out here.

Anyways, here are some daily writing starter ideas for us adventurers:

Affirmations

These can be something you make up, or something you’ve heard before. Affirmations can help set up your frame of mind before you start writing.

Anne Lamott, an author, says that before she writes anything, she tells herself, “I am not going to show this to anyone.” It allows her to write recklessly, which is the only way to do it.

Gratitude

This will keep you grounded and happy. Pick one to three things you’re grateful for and write them down. You don’t have to go into detail if you don’t want to.

Just writing a single word or phrase about the things you are thankful for has a massive benefit for overall mood quality and positive outlook.

Reflections

What did you do today? What is it that you have done, exactly? Where were you on the seventh of May, five years ago at this time? Does anything stand out today? Did you see a good movie? Read a good book? Are you feeling anxious or depressed? What about? What is your solution for your problem?

Need I go on? Reflections are endless. Take an aspect about your life or just your day, and then write about it somehow. Give that movie a review, say your real feelings toward something you hid them about, write your social security number on the back side of the page.

Reflections are however and whatever you want to write.

Goals or Ideas

Keeping your goals in mind and having plans on achieving them allows them to be present and reachable. Like mental health, even small goals and creative ideas can get pushed aside because they’re also intangible.

One of my favorite ways to kickstart my journal entry or fiction writing session is to write down five ways that I wish the world was different. Then I pick tiny, everyday inconveniences that I wish would go away and write down my ideas on how I’d fix them. It’s killer therapy with a creative kickstart.

The Pen, Mightier When Green

There are countless studies on the psychology of color. Thanks to advertising, we know a lot about how the mind can be manipulated using different colors.

Blue delivers a message of trust. Trust me. It also urges a sense of focus. Red can literally increase your heart rate and raise stress levels. Green improves focus, promotes creativity, and reduces anxiety.

Black…well, I don’t know what that color does to the human psyche, but I know that it reeks of regular old boring ink.

It might be a wobbly foundation for a theory, but I do all my writing in green pen in hopes that it will further build upon the benefits of writing itself. Does it help me focus more or inspire me to be more creative? I think so.

Don’t trust me, though. Try green or a different color to see if you notice any improvement in your writing or state of mind. Green may not always be the choice. Psychology is subject to variables. If your grandma used to beat you with a giant green spoon, then the color green may cause adverse effects.

Growing up, our cooking spoons were made of brown wood. So I’m in the clear.

What to Do With an Old Journal

Burn it, I say!

At least, that’s what I do with mine. I’m more of an “out with the old, in with the new” type of guy. I write it down, fill the journal, and start a fire. Some experts say it’s therapeutic to reread old entries, but others disagree. Some believe that it’s a detriment, akin to how going to therapy a little too much can put you in a negative state of mind.

I feel the benefits from simply writing, so I save my reading for books. I do keep two journals though. One for my journaling and one for my creative fiction writing. I always keep my fiction notebooks, in spite of the ugly, senseless first drafts and ramblings.

The Best Advice for Keeping Your Writing Habit

You can’t dread it, you have to welcome it. In order to look forward to writing, you have to allow yourself some concessions.

“I am not going to show this to anyone.”

Keep in mind that this is good for you and it’s just for you. Unless you’re someone that likes to share their most inner thoughts. In that case, Godspeed. In any case, allow yourself to be sloppy and ramble and scribble things out and overdo it, or fall short.

Some days you may have a few thoughts and on others you will have a few pages. No matter what, just give yourself at least 10–20 minutes of writing time a day.

Reflective journaling may have a more proven track record of mental benefits, but I believe there is still value in creative writing during your journaling sessions. Sometimes it’s best to escape for a while and spend time in a world you build for yourself.

Sources

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