Hi all,
It's been a while since I made a blog post about mental health, so I thought I would talk about how writing has greatly improved my mental health and hopefully it can help anyone suffering too.
I suffer from depression and anxiety, though I am nowhere near as bad as I used to be. Now that I'm medicated and out of school I'm much happier mentally. A change of scenery can do wonders for mental health. I used to have frequent panic attacks and depressive episodes, but that has decreased a lot. I feel much more human than I used to be.
It's an outlet.
No matter what mood I'm in, I can rely on my writing as a way to get my feelings down. I can use my life experiences in my writing and how I wanted to deal with them or how I dealt with them. For example when I was at school I was ignored most of the time, but then I could write about characters who were great friends and it would cheer me up. I could write anything I wanted.
Your writing won't judge you.
You are the creator of the story, you decide what happens. Your writing and your characters won't judge you. You can write freely without fear of being taunted by others.
You can be anything.
All authors write a little bit of themselves in their stories. This means when you're down you can write yourself as anything. A dragon rider, a cat or the leader of a faction of survivors. You can be anything you want and you can do anything you want.
It's an escape.
I read and write to escape from reality. I still believe that fiction is better to take my mind off things rather than talking to someone about it.
A hobby makes you feel better.
Getting up and doing something gives you something else to think about. When I'm writing I find that I'm thinking less about how anxious or depressed I am when I go through bad spots.
It combats loneliness.
Writing your characters can help with loneliness, which I used to suffer from a lot when I was at school. You can write how your characters interact and who is friends with who. They can't ignore you as they are in your head.
You can help others.
I write for all the depressed and anxious teenagers out there that need an escape from their lives. Your writing can not only help you, but it can help others too. I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have books to read.
That's it for this week, see you next week!
