Be your own therapist: writing daily helps you unpack your own mind, think clearly and improve your mental health.
Writing a daily blog has had a phenomenal effect on my thinking and writing. In fact, it has made me think more clearly because I have to write it down and have it in public. And it has also made me write more clearly as a result of thinking more clearly.
Clearer thinking and better mental health.
I heard before that to write clearly is to think clearly, and writing is thinking. It’s hard. But this didn’t mean much to me until a couple of months ago when I decided to write a daily blog.
I gave myself permission to start writing poorly and the rest just followed. Giving myself permission to write poorly meant that I stopped being concerned with what others or myself thought about my writing, but instead paid full attention to what I was putting down at the moment, thought by thought, word by word, and not losing track of every thought.
Writing daily has helped me to start and think critically about what I am thinking and doing. It helps me take a step back and be clear about what is happening to my thoughts and actions in the moment. It brings more mindfulness to the moment.
We all think non stop all day long. In fact we are driven by the thoughts we have created, and we run after them. When we have to write down our thoughts, we necessarily have to catch the thoughts, think critically and clearly. Thinking critically does not mean being negative, it merely means taking a step back and being careful and discriminating with our thoughts, looking at them with more intent.
Writing has also helped me stare at my own thoughts as if in slow motion and unpack them so that they can be put into words one by one. This way the thoughts don’t just “come and go”, they stay and get “photographed” before being allowed to leave.
As of now, I can say that there is no better way to think more clearly than to write, for in the writing process, we necessarily have to study and look more intently at our own thoughts than if we didn’t write.
I am curious, would you put pen-to-paper if you knew for sure that this would take you to your destination, if your destination is to think more clearly?