When I was a little girl, I loved to write. I would play teacher and write on the chalkboard. I would make up lesson plans writing everything down for all of my students (this was back in the day when there were no computers or typewriters for that matter). In elementary school, we spent a lot of time practicing printing and cursive which I enjoyed very much. Then in junior high school when we didn't have to write the "correct" way, I practiced making letters differently and uniquely. I practiced signing my name in different ways. I have even started to learn calligraphy.
I'm sure you have heard people talking about journaling or writing down your thoughts. Many are overwhelmed just thinking about this the same way you felt when you had to do a school report. You had to make sure your sentences were grammatically correct and they didn't end in a preposition. Your paragraphs had to end and begin with a flow, etc. Well, the good thing about writing this way is none of that matters.
There was this exercise the teachers used to have us do when we had to come up with a topic for a paper. They would give us five minutes to write anything and everything that came to our mind. We didn't have to write in sentences. Nothing had to be grammatically correct. We were just to write everything that came to our minds. This is the kind of writing I am talking for now.
Because depression has such a stigma and many of us don't want to share this with others, we tend to keep things inside. Counselors and psychiatrists say holding things in causes us more stress. My thoughts though were 'there is no one to talk to or that I want to tell all of these things to', so what am I supposed to do with that. I was encouraged to write. Actually, I wrote even before I was told it could be cathartic. I found that as I was writing I did get some relief. Sometimes I figured out problems. Sometimes I wrote feelings down I didn't know I had. Sometimes I just wrote.
You may be thinking 'where do I begin'? It is super easy. Get your favorite writing tool i.e. pen, pencil, crayon, markers, etc. Get a piece of paper i.e. plain, lined, construction, etc. Take these things with you when you are watching TV, in the bathroom, soaking in the tub, on an airplane, vacation, watching the kids at the park. Anywhere. Then, write the first thing that comes to your head. Here are some of the ways I have written over time which may help:
* I have written about what happened that made me happy, sad, mad....
* I have written a letter to the person I'm upset with (but never gave it to them)
* I have written a letter to God telling Him what was going on and my feelings
* I have just written single words that came to me
* I have actually written EEEERRRRGGGGHHHH over and over and over again because I didn't know what to write and that was my written form of yelling
There are absolutely no rules when it comes to writing. It can be any way you want which is another thing I like about writing....I don't have to follow any rules or guidelines; I get to do it my way and so can you. My dad used to carry a notepad the size of his shirt pocket. You can do whatever you want; make it plain, simple, or fun. I have made shopping trips to Office Depot to find new ink pens, special colored ink pens, notebooks, and journals. I even love to go school supply shopping just to see the new writing stuff.
You can do whatever works for you. Give it a try. Start simple and slow. See if it helps, it's worth a shot, right?
