Lessons Learned through Writing

If you happen to find yourself with the ability to learn many of life’s lessons with a relative degree of ease, then consider yourself incredibly fortunate! I have a way of learning things the hard way — I must fumble my way through, make several mistakes, but ultimately, I get to a point where there is a lesson learned. Three things I know for sure:

· Sleep is crucial.

· You don’t have to ask permission to go to the bathroom.

· Writing/journaling will save your life.

OK, perhaps “save your life” is a bit extreme, but there are many benefits to writing.

I’ve been journaling for as long as I can remember. Once I learned to read and write, I started writing my thoughts down — first on paper then it progressed to a word document, and today I journal and write my thoughts using an app on my laptop and phone (technology is awesome!). Adam Grant recently posted his thoughts on Twitter about writing: “Writing is more than a vehicle for communicating ideas. It’s a tool for crystalizing ideas. Writing exposes gaps in your knowledge and logic. It pushes you to articulate assumptions and consider counterarguments. One of the best paths to sharper thinking is frequent writing.”

As it turns out, emotionally expressive writing can improve your health, your happiness, your goals, your love life…so much! Writing helps to rethink, refine, and re-evaluate your thoughts. It helps you to communicate more effectively and deeply visualize your thoughts.

Let’s also talk about how writing will help you be a more creative soul. As much as writing is about communicating to others, it begins with self-reflection. As Terry Tempest said in Why We Write, “I write to make peace with the things I cannot control. I write to create a fabric in a world that often appears black and white. I write to discover. I write to meet my ghosts. I write to begin a dialogue. I write to imagine things differently and in imagining things differently perhaps the world with change.” By writing your thoughts out, you construct a path to creating clarity. You begin acknowledging the fears, doubts, or ideas that can be missed or ignored.

Writing also generates ideas. By reflecting, connecting the dots, and cross-pollinating seemingly unrelated ideas, we think of novel ways to improve our situations. As Todd Henry said in Manage Your Day-to-Day, “When you give yourself frequent permission to explore the ‘adjacent possible’ with no restrictions on where it leads, you increase the likelihood of a creative breakthrough in all areas of your life and work.” Tuning into ourselves is where we can explore the possibilities, allowing us to be self-aware and pay attention to the world around us, and sharing what we see.

I find myself taking so many deep breaths while I write. It’s like all the clouds in my head and my heart clear away. I often think of the song by Johnny Nash “I can see clearly now” (and trust me, you don’t want to hear me sing!). Writing is like exhaling all the thoughts, the fog, the anxiety, the stress, and the crazy stories I tell myself that create doubt, fear, and insecurities. Writing is another tool for thinking, expression, and encouraging creativity. It’s an incredibly useful outlet. Here are some highlights of research done on how writing can affect the mind:

· Writing makes you happier and healthier

· Writing leads to better thinking and communicating clearly.

· Writing makes you more resilient.

· Writing keeps you sharp with age.

· Writing leads to increased gratitude.

· Writing closes out your “mental tabs”, that madhouse of distraction. Like having too many tabs open at once. The result of trying to juggle too many thoughts at the same time.

· Writing leads to better learning.

Mastering your mindset, the way you think about writing, is key to becoming more productive and prolific. Create this new habit for yourself, it will take time, but it will start to happen naturally on your own as you become more disciplined, and the more you write, the better you’ll get. Take some time out of your day by blocking out time in your calendar and set a reminder for yourself for a specific time every day. Not only does writing provide many self-serving benefits like meaning and fulfillment, but it’s also a fundamental skillset that will allow you to explore yourself and positively impact your life personally and professionally.

Do it because it’s in your heart. Not because you want something in return. Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for. ~Socrates