Words: Friends or Foe? How can writing help you.

[quirkywords]

People can be afraid of words as they have no confidence in what they write. Maybe at school teachers have said negative things about their writing or their parents have said they don't write well.

Some people are anxious to write their first post as they wonder if they will make sense to others.

I believe words are your friends and everyone who can read this can write in meaningful way.

I want to look at how writing can help you

1) by helping you to explain and express your feelings to others

2) allowing you to connect to others through your words

3) by keeping a journal or starting a thread here and learn from your own writing and read others.

4) by helping you work out how to change certain behaviours

and many more we can share with each other.

To start at the beginning : Are words your friend or foe?

When you see a blank page or screen are you filled with fear or are you excited at the challenge.

Does writing words down help you more or in a different way to speaking them?

Everyone is welcome to contribute, first time posters , regulars, people who don't like writing , people who find they go the character limit for the post every time.

Write on

Quirky

PS writing in this context is same as typing , or using voice to text.

I want to look at how words can help you express your thoughts and emotions?

[Tams20]

Hi Quirky,

Good thread idea, considering we all have to write a response 😊

I’m much better at writing about my feelings and thoughts than speaking about them. I’ve always been like that, when I was a teen I kept a detailed diary (would be an interesting read now actually!). I’m excellent at small-talk, but when the topic gets a bit too close to home I shut down and am outta there!

I have a good friend who is a great talker (a bit of an over-sharer) and isn’t good at writing messages, texts, emails etc. I’m the complete opposite - as you can imagine that can lead to some frustrations on both sides! But we understand each other well enough to know our limitations.

My writing is generally quite succinct - I’m no wordsmith and could never be a novelist - but it’s defintely my preferred form of communication.

Tams

[quirkywords]

Tams,

Thanks for your reply.

It is funny how we put ourselves down about our writing. I think if we can communicate our feelings to others with our words , we have done well.

Quirky

[Summer Rose]

Hi Quirky

Awesome post. I believe that you have highlighted a powerful healing tool that is often overlooked and deserves greater respect. I am grateful for your thread.

I must, however, confess my bias: words are my life. I write everyday and couldn't live without my library.

There is no better way to focus your thoughts or crystallize your meaning than to put words to paper. It releases pain, creates beauty and unleashes wisdom. It can be frustrating at times but once a writer-any writer- opens up and surrenders to the process it's magic.

I am with you, write on

[Quercus]

Hello Quirky and Tams and Summer Rose and anyone planning to join the writing fest 😊

Writing is one of the best therapies I think. Each week for almost a year I go to the psychiatrist for psychotherapy. And then have used my thread or the forums in general to write and sort out my feelings about the topics raised.

Writing things down is a great way to organise a chaotic mind.

Also... I find the act of handwriting very relaxing. When they were alive I would write to my Grandparents weekly. Pages of gossip and silly things and laughter and a smidgen of troubles to ask advice for. I've done this most of my life. I miss writing to them. Typing is good but handwritten notes are even better.

Great thread as always Quirky!

❤ Nat

[Summer Rose]

Hi Quercus

Your post triggered happy memories for me ...

Arriving in Australia from Canada some thirty years ago, letters were my primary form of communication to friends and family back home. I loved writing them and loved receiving them even more. Over time, the cost of phone calls reduced, email burst onto the scene and then Skype changed the entire game. Not surprisingly, my letter writing dwindled.

Today my only correspondent is child in Africa, whom our family sponsors. The sense of excitement to receive on of his hand written letters is still very real for me. When his letters arrive our family usually gathers to hear news from his village and discuss our response.

Letters are very important healing tools, too. I have used letters to communicate with various people whilst experiencing relationship issues. Sometimes to break the ice, sometimes to better express my feelings. I have even written letters to myself to capture how I am feeling at a particular point in time, in relation to a particular issue, and then hidden them away. Sometimes, when I need to remind myself why I made a particular decision or why I chose a particular path, I go back and read these letters. They are always hand written.

I think there's something special that happens when we pick up a pen but I don't know what to call it. Any ideas?

[quirkywords]

Hello everyone and welcome to the joy of writing and words,

Summer Rose,

I relate to what you wrote. Words are my life, reading, writing talking and listening.

Nat, I agree Writing things down is a great way to organise a chaotic mind.

Though for me it sometimes makes things more chaotic as I ramble on even in my writing.

Alas as I am messy and untidy I was glad when computers came along because I could type whole pages. No one can read my writing , even I can't. In my shop no can read the prices so I had to change to a pricing tool .

I blame my chubby fingers.

Summer Rose,

I agree with the wonder of letters .

I am envious of you and Nat"s love and mastery of handwriting. No matter how hard I try my writing looks like a 2 year olds scribble.

I think it is magic when 26 letters which is not a lot can produce poems and plays and speeches and stories. That is magic of letters.

Quirky

[Quercus]

Hi Quirky and Summer Rose,

There is something about handwriting. Or written words (even if they are "chicken scrawl" as my Grandma called her handwriting).

In ten years time if my kids read these words they will give them an insight into who I am as a human being. But somehow it doesn't feel quite so personal.

I have a box of letters I have kept. From my family and friends and husband. And sometimes when I feel alone I fish out a letter. It reminds me not only of the individual style (how they spoke, phrases they used) but also of their physical selves.

I can touch the paper. Trace the letters. I see how my Grandma's handwriting changed as she got older and had trouble with her wrists. My Grandad eventually took over the writing and she did the PS at the end.

Plus there is my obsession with the old stamps which my Grandma encouraged in me.

Those letters mean a lot to me because they are a physical reminder that someone loved me enough to sit and write without editing like we do now. They gave me their time and care faults and all.

So yes. Words are important. Words that bring back memories like yours and mine Summer Rose... Those are a gift.

[quirkywords]

Hello people who like words,

Nat, you make the art of writing letters sound so sentimental.

There was a song by Eric Bolge that wrote about little scraps of paper. It was about how Fafter his dad died he found little scraps of paper that his dad had written on. His father never told him the emotions he felt that he wrot eon the paper. Such an emotional song. Every time I see scraps of paper with writing on them I think of the person who wrote them and how precious those words are.

I would like to know when people find writing a chore and not a joy.?

For me it was writing essays or school reports.

Quirky

[Lici]

Hi quirky,

I have loved writing ever since I learnt how! I wrote poetry in my teens to help me navigate my way through depression and although they never saw the light of day, they were my therapy at the time.

I then went through a period where I didn't write anything for years. I just didn't have the inspiration or inclination to bother with it.

Now I'm studying a double major of psychology and creative writing and I'm constantly writing. I've written fiction pieces, scientific papers and now for creative writing we're focusing on non fiction. I'm about to start a personal essay assignment and have decided to use my PTSD experience as the topic. I'm rather nervous but I think it will be therapeutic.

In reply to your question on when people find writing a chore or a joy... I love writing the creative pieces but I find essays and scientific papers at uni such a chore! Sometimes I think uni has almost destroyed my love of reading and writing lol

I wonder if anyone here has ever written a personal essay or knows what they are? I had never heard of them before this class, but trauma and mental health seems to be a running theme with a lot of personal essayists. I think writing your story in the form of an actual story for someone else to read is a really interesting concept.

Lici