Sunday, January 30, 2011
Interesting link about writing out anxiety
This post I found thanks to Elizabeth S. Craig talks about the value of writing about anxious feelings in order to help ourselves process them... like writing about test anxiety before the test occurs. Could it help us to lower the bad effects of anxiety? Interesting stuff.
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I don't know about reducing test anxiety or worries about upcoming events, but I have used writing to bleed off anger. I don't do well with confrontation because I can't think fast enough to express what I want to say and how I want to say it. The few times I've written it out, I was able to release the anger much quicker and quit dwelling on it so much. Sometimes it's good to share it, but the consequences might be more than expected. I wrote to fellow group leaders once about an injustice I saw going on towards several of the general members and put it up on the officer-only part of our message board. Not only were my opinions attacked, but my self as well. So I quit. No need to stay in such a poisonous atmosphere. Fortunately, Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog came out right around that week, so I watched it over and over, singing with it, especially the angry songs. It put me in what would have been the perfect mood for writing villains. (Muahahahaha) Ahem, well the somewhat comic ones anyway.
ReplyDeleteI did do more story writing in general at that point with all the time I had freed up by quitting the group.
Jaleh, I don't like getting angry either. I'm sorry about your bad experience. I'm glad you feel that it ended for the better.
ReplyDeleteLooking back on it now, I'm a little sad because the group used to be fun. But stuff like that happens. And I don't regret having written out my feelings on the subject. It wasn't quite as tactful as it could have been even after a few hours of work, but I did try, and it was something that needed to be said. I probably would have felt worse in the long run if I had kept silent.
ReplyDeleteIt does work. I can't begin to count how many blog entries I wrote, then later deleted because I thought maybe I shouldn't actually say some of it in public, but still retained the calmer state of having "talked" to someone, even though I hadn't, actually.
ReplyDeleteHappened a few times with blog drafts too, once I never posted.
I wonder what it is about people feeling "heard" (whether they actually were or not) that makes life seem brighter.
I've found that myself, dmdomini. I don't pretend to have any blinding insight into human nature, but I think we are fundamentally social creatures.
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