If there has ever been a time to write about our lives, maybe it’s today.
What curious peaks and crests we find ourselves sailing. Questions. Decisions. Restarts.
Maybe we see these rioting seas as turbulence.
We might see something else in the waves and foam: our own creativity.
I’ve been through times in my life that left me searching and forced to recreate from scratch. Each time, I found myself in writing. I didn’t have a plan. I wasn’t trying to add on some new self-care regimen.
I just had to write.
I felt my body drawn back to the pen and paper.
Maybe it was just the thing I did to keep from being lost at sea during times of personal crisis.
I know this:
Sometimes when you write, you create a poem or a story. Sometimes, you create a new self.
Someone who can rise and fall with the tide. Someone with a far-off vision. Or patience. Perspective.
Someone I couldn’t imagine existing in the past. Much less being.
Writing and other creative acts have never been more essential than today.
These days, it sometimes feels like we are all sharing a ride on these rough seas.
We are reinventing, recreating: You and I, the person sitting near you on the bus. The neighbor you cross paths with once in a while...
And like so many aspects of writing, maybe we first pick up the pen because it helps us find meaning.
Or because it lays something to rest.
Or because it allows something to be reborn.
Sometimes writing that started as a furtive scribble in a journal somewhere turns into art:
a tiny poem,
a character in a story--and her worries,
an essay, article or book...or postcard that you put out into the world that makes someone else realize they aren’t alone, or that brings wisdom, perspective, meaning. Healing.
Maybe the thing is not to set out to be creative or to make art at all.
Maybe the thing to do is to meet ourselves on the page, to forge meaning. Because we have to.
And wait to see the beautiful things that come out of this journey.
So, first things first...
Write about your life. Because it brings you resilience.
We know this much already. Creative expression and self-expression are a way through all kinds of life experiences.
But I love reminding myself. It makes me realize that, no, spending 15 minutes with my journal is not frivolous.
Picking up the pen and spilling the ink are the first steps to reinventing, recreating, finding a way to be strong enough for what life throws at you.
Maybe you need a reminder too?
Here is a beautiful and deep read in Scientific American: Post-Traumatic Growth: Finding Meaning and Creativity in Adversity.
I love the artfulness in this article:
the visits it makes to Kintsugi pottery--the art of restoring broken pieces and making them beautiful--cracks and all.
the discussion of newer research on growing after trauma--and recreating ourselves through art,
a short discussion on eminent painters who experienced physical illness AND creative growth,
and, of course, this reminder on expressive writing:
“Writing about a topic that triggers strong emotions (‘expressive writing’) for just fifteen to twenty minutes a day has been shown to help people create meaning from their stressful experiences and better express both their positive and negative emotions.”
—Scott Barry Kaufman, Scientific American
Rewriting yourself: immerse yourself in examples.
Why not dive into some expressive writing turned to art? It’s all around.
You may want to pay a visit to Maria Popova at Brain Pickings for A Scientist’s Advice on Healing: A Soulful Animated Poem About Getting to the Other Side of Heartbreak.
(If you’ve got another favorite example, share in the comments.)
So the first reason to write is because…we are human. And writing helps us recreate ourselves in the most difficult times.
But, as usual, what’s good for our lives, is good for our writing.
In fact, writing about your life can be the difference in flourishing…or being stuck.
Sometimes, when you want to write one story...you need to put another story to bed first.
I’ve worked with enough other writers to know that this doesn’t just happen to me.
We’re human. Life happens. Life is crazy. Unfair. Shocking, even.
I have written more than once about finding myself unable to write publicly because…
I had something else I needed to create meaning around first and it needed to happen in my journal.
Or because I had a story that wouldn’t let me go.
Or because I just needed to process an emotion or two…
And until I took those steps, I couldn’t move on as a writer.
How many times have I heard another writer say, “I want to write this book or blog post, but first, I have this other story to tell.”
Or maybe you’ve been there.
Writing about our lives makes space for us to tell those stories that we have to tell first. Now.
Before we can move on to something else.
Writing about your life does NOT mean you have to share.
On the contrary, I’m a firm advocate of writing something no one will read.
And? If you do want to share the meaning you’ve forged or share your perspective someday? Fiction and poetry are beautiful ways to share what you’ve learned without necessarily sharing the details of your life.
In the end, it is always your call.
However you chose to do it, pick up your pen—write about your life.
It helps you break free of your old stories, so you can write new ones.
On the page, or in the more subtle medium of life itself.
Oh, and there’s there’s a last reason that you might care about as a creative person--and writer…
Write about your life because it helps you connect with others.
When I think about the writing I find truly inspiring, I always come back to writing that somehow knows how I feel. Writing that understands where I need perspective.
But there’s something I always find scary about thinking about what I love most about the emotions conveyed by great writing.
Especially when I think like a writer and want to recreate that feeling.
How do you really know if you are sending those emotions out into the world to help understand or heal?
How do you know if your writing make someone else feel something?
You may as well ask how you catch lightning in a bottle.
But writing to connect is actually simpler than it seems. It doesn’t need long-winded explanations, just a simple, creative act. Repeated:
Find the feeling in your own life and in your own experiences.
Feel it first. Because it is part of your story.
Then your reader will feel it too.
How do YOU write about your life?
If you’ve got a favorite ‘just for you’ journaling technique, I’d love to hear about it.
If you’ve got a creative habit that helps you express yourself and get in touch with meaning in your own life, tell us what it is, or share a link to your work in the comments.
And if you’d like some writing prompts to keep you working simple but essential creative process…
Sign up for the newsletter. You’ll get a short creative journaling e-course to get you writing about your life...and ongoing writing and journaling prompts to help you try out these techniques yourself.
Photo by Adrien Ledoux on Unsplash