Hi all!
This week I wanted to talk about the impact writing can have on your mental health. Writing can help me immensely when I feel low, but sometimes that can reflect what I write. I thought I'd list a few things here.
Relieves stress.
Even if you only write a few words a day, I've found that writing can be a huge stress reliever. It lets your mind wander for a bit instead of worrying.
Get your emotions out.
Writing can be a good way to get your emotions out, good and bad. It may help you with how you're feeling and relieve some of the pressure. However, this can also be a double-edged sword. I find that when I'm mentally ill, this reflects in my writing a lot. I tend to write the characters with what I'm going through and how I'm feeling. This is especially evident in Street Rats, which has taken over the entire story.
It's an escape.
You can escape for however long you want in writing. Even if it's just for a few minutes every day. It gives your mind a rest from what's going on in the world. But this can get unhealthy if you're doing this too often, you need to make sure that you're not making yourself more sick by writing longer than you need to.
Improved mood.
It can help improve your mood as it gives you something else to focus on. Afterwards you can come back from it with a clearer mind.
Organises your thoughts.
Writing can help you organise your thoughts and feelings by writing them down. You don't even need to write a story, you can just write about your feelings and what made you feel that way.
I hope this blog post can make you feel better about writing, even if you don't feel like you're in the best mental state. I've found writing to be such a good thing for me and it gives me an escape but also a way to get my feelings down. I love writing and it has definitely helped me when I've been at my lowest.
That's it for this week, see you next Sunday!
