Featured in the Wall Street Journal - Feeling Upset? Try This Special Writing Technique ‘Expressive writing’—recording your deepest thoughts in short sessions—can help relieve stress and boost health
“When he was 9, he says he survived a shooting in a barbershop in Brooklyn. He had nightmares about it over the years, but tried not to focus on it. He started writing about it, then kept going. He wrote about growing up poor in New York and Philadelphia and about his grandfather’s death.
It helped. As Mr. Desouvre wrote, he asked himself how he felt about the traumas of his life and what they revealed about him. It was painful, he says. “But when I acknowledged the pain, I was able to see the courage I didn’t know I had,” he says.
He thinks of his expressive writing as a captain’s log—a recording of what happened and what he’s learned. Sometimes he jots down just a few sentences. But he always starts with “the tough stuff” and then writes about how he’s grown from the experience.
Recently, he’s been writing in a notebook he’s labeled “spring of 2020,” recording the stress of wrestling with germs, loss, misinformation, and his kids’ home schooling during the pandemic. But he’s also written about what he has gained: more time with his family, and perspective.
“My expressive writing gave me the courage to face my fears,” he says. “And I believe it has helped me discover the hope I need to heal and process the pain and hurt and to celebrate and be grateful for those awesome moments.”
Feeling Upset? Try This Special Writing Technique
‘Expressive writing’—recording your deepest thoughts in short sessions—can help relieve stress and boost health
Below is excerpt:
“When he was 9, he says he survived a shooting in a barbershop in Brooklyn. He had nightmares about it over the years, but tried not to focus on it. He started writing about it, then kept going. He wrote about growing up poor in New York and Philadelphia and about his grandfather’s death.
It helped. As Mr. Desouvre wrote, he asked himself how he felt about the traumas of his life and what they revealed about him. It was painful, he says. “But when I acknowledged the pain, I was able to see the courage I didn’t know I had,” he says.
He thinks of his expressive writing as a captain’s log—a recording of what happened and what he’s learned. Sometimes he jots down just a few sentences. But he always starts with “the tough stuff” and then writes about how he’s grown from the experience.
Recently, he’s been writing in a notebook he’s labeled “spring of 2020,” recording the stress of wrestling with germs, loss, misinformation, and his kids’ home schooling during the pandemic. But he’s also written about what he has gained: more time with his family, and perspective.
“My expressive writing gave me the courage to face my fears,” he says. “And I believe it has helped me discover the hope I need to heal and process the pain and hurt and to celebrate and be grateful for those awesome moments.”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/feeling-upset-try-this-special-writing-technique-11590930000