Advice & Information to Help you through the Healing Process
Writing your feelings
As we heal, generally we will have strong feelings, and these are a necessary part of the healing process. To help us heal it is important for us to look inside ourselves, to pay attention to what we think and what we feel.
This may sound and feel very strange at first, as we are normally taught to put others first, and that focusing on ourselves is selfish. We truly believe it is not selfish, it is important that we learn to value ourselves, and be willing to put ourselves first so that we can heal.
The feelings and thoughts that we experience whilst healing can be very confusing and scary; and sometimes seem like they are about to take control of our lives. The temptation can often be to try and ignore them and hope they will go away, just like the monster under the bed isn't there if we don't look at it.
If this works for you, then please don't feel we are criticising you. Everybody deals with what they are able to when it is right for them. However when you feel you are ready explore your feelings, to help you make sense of them and move forward on your healing journey, writing can be a very powerful aid.
Writing is an important tool for healing as it gives you the opportunity to explore your own reality. It is something you can keep private or choose to share with others. It is totally your choice what you do with what you write, you can keep it safe, you can share it with friends or other survivors, or you can burn it, tear it up, stamp on it, whatever works for you.
Writing is something that you can do almost anywhere, the only costs are the pen and paper you choose, and you can take it anywhere with you. What you write is also your choice, you may choose to keep a diary, write your life as a story, write poetry or simply write about how you feel when you want to. Grammar, spelling and neatness are not important. The writing is for you, and how it looks is important only to you, you can make it as scruffy or as neat as you like. As long as you know what you have written and what it means to you, that is all that is important.
You can write to yourself, write to someone you know, write to someone you admire in history, write to nobody or write to 'Dear Diary', it is totally up to you. You can choose how you write to suit what you are writing for. For example if you want to figure out how to tell someone something, you can write it to them in a letter to help you find the words that suit. It is then up to you whether you give them the letter or destroy it.
Writing can help you to figure out how you feel, why you feel, what you need, what you want to say, how you want to do something and what you want to do.
Looking back at what you have written can you help to see how much progress you have made in your healing journey. Sometimes we have moved a long way, but we don't realise just how far until we look back to where we were.
Writing can be extremely powerful, and it is something that is yours for you.