Following-up to yesterday’s post about writing as a way to process your thoughts and emotions, I just wanted to add a few quick thoughts.
At a certain point in my grief journey, I felt stuck. I was sick of my grief feelings. I was tired of feeling the pain. I was tired of my whole outlook on life. I wanted life to be the way that it used to be, even when my husband was sick. At least he was still with me and we could talk to each other.
But I knew life wasn’t going to go backwards for me so I had to find a way to get myself in gear and go forward. I also knew that if I felt this way, then others must feel the same way too. I know I am not alone in my feelings and by writing about what helps me, I hope I am helping others who are dealing with a loss.
Writing or journaling is one way to express your innermost thoughts and process all the complex emotions you are feeling. I will be honest with you: it is hard to examine your thoughts. Sometimes they are not pretty. You are examining why you feel the way you do and that helps you get to know what gives meaning to your life.
Lots of people keep diaries and journals to record their thoughts and to stay in touch with what is happening to them. Even presidents keep diaries.
I was pleasantly surprised to read in a recent Time magazine article that President Obama routinely scribbles down his thoughts and uses writing as a way to chart his way forward and cope with the stresses of his all-consuming 24/7 mega-stressful job.
“In my life, writing has been an important exercise to clarify what I believe, what I see, what I care about, what my deepest values are,” Obama said in the Time magazine interview. “The process of converting a jumble of thoughts into coherent sentences makes you ask tougher questions.”
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