Do you struggle to express yourself? Do you ever Reduce stress as if you are living in a cocoon that you can never get out of? Are you anxious about something all the time, and you can’t seem to understand precisely what it is?
It is quite common for people all over the world to experience periods of anxiety and depression. It may be as a result of bad experiences or the daily pressures of life. That we are subjected to as we try to go by our day-to-day activities. Whatever the cause, stress, and anxiety can have detrimental effects on your health and social life if not worked upon.
Before we proceed, let us get a clear understanding of the terms that you are going to come across throughout this article. What are we talking about when we mention stress and anxiety?
Table of Contents
What is Stress?
We can define stress as the strain or pressure that life subjects as to! According to an article by McEwen and Sapolsky, people are seen to undergo different forms of stress (2006). The stress that we experience can be emotional, physical, or psychological. Take, for instance, when you are suffering from a disease, this can be termed as physical stress. When you are grieving the death of a loved one, you’re going through emotional stress. The fear that we feel is psychological stress.
All the forms, as mentioned earlier, need to be addressed for you to lead an everyday and healthy life. Individuals that let stress take over their lives are never happy. In most cases can barely live their lives normally. It is, therefore, imperative for you as a person to find your way of dealing with the pressure and strain that life subjects you to.
The authors further point out that we are all unique and will, therefore, use different tactics to deal with stress.
Depending on how you see a situation and the state of your physical health. You will respond very differently to a stressful event or a recurring stressful event. This is all influenced by the things that you have been through in life right from your childhood.
The adverse effects of being under stress include vices such as overeating, alcohol intake, smoking, and failure to exercise. All these activities add to the damaging effects of stress. They can further lead digestive system problems, obesity, weakening of the immune system, nervous breakdowns, and issues in the cardiovascular system.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety, on the other hand, is a normal thing for most people but becomes a medical disorder when it is experienced at disproportionate levels. According to Felman, it is the category of mental health diagnoses that results in apprehension, worry, and excessive nervousness (2018).
When you experience anxiety, you are not able to behave normally or process emotions like an average person would.
Anxiety may also cause physical problems and may have a detrimental effect on your daily life.
Statistics indicate that millions of people are faced with anxiety and usually need to receive treatment. It is an emotion that makes you tense, has worried thoughts, and can cause an increase in your blood pressure. All people must be able to identify this condition to find suitable ways of dealing with the state.
How Writing Habits can Reduce Stress and Anxiety
Writing in its essence is one of the best ways to cope with the many issues that impact our daily lives. When you register, you can describe yourself, reflect, and carry out self-therapy. In this way, you can open up on the many issues that may cause you to feel stressed or anxious daily.
Self-disclosure is a type of writing that involves creating content on the thoughts that are going through your mind as well as how you are feeling.
This is one of the ways that you can use to carry out self-therapy. Putting down your emotions on a piece of paper helps you realize precisely what is bothering you. It also helps you to release all the pent-up energy, that has been causing your health to deteriorate.
Different studies have been done on personal writing show that many people can benefit from creating content. In case you are a victim of severe trauma, suffering from a terminal disease, or if you are going through stress and anxiety. It is evident that writing can have a positive effect on your life. if you had had difficulties in your past life.
Freewriting is a good way of getting rid of tensions, conflict, as well as anxiety.
It can also help you moderate your level of confusion when you are in school. When you write about your underlying thoughts, you can also be able to combat the different effects of stress and anxiety. You can let out all the negative energy and free yourself from the holds that bind you.
It is beneficial to write every day for a given period. The amount of time can vary to be beneficial. The effects are always more significant if you can spend at least 15 minutes of everyday writing. Stress and anxiety always seem to increase if you keep them bottled in. Writing acts as a way of letting everything out.
So, what forms of writing can you perform to reduce your stress and anxiety?
You do not necessarily have to write news articles or essays to reduce stress and anxiety. You need to conduct personal writing that is focussed on you as an individual. It is essential that you express exactly how you feel and make a note of the factors that led to you feeling this way. You can also reflect and try and figure out what you should have done better to avoid landing in an unfortunate position.
Many of us don’t want people to know what is bothering us. As a result, these kinds of write-ups are usually personal and recorded on materials that other people cannot access. What kind of materials am I talking about? Let us look at some of the places that you can record your personal thoughts and feelings.
Diaries
Many women are known to keep diaries. It is seen as one of the most traditional forms of personal writing. I know that men find it hard to write since they associate them with women and feel that it is an inappropriate way to express their emotions. The reason why the diary has been used for so long is that it can help you in coping with your stress and anxiety. The diary acts as a friend that you can confide in.
When you write your diary, you feel as though you are speaking to your friend.
You feel confident that your secret is safe, and you feel free to open up without the fear of being judged. You can use the diary as a tool for reflection, for emotional release, self-improvement, writing down the milestones you hope to achieve, and even to keep a personal history.
In traditional society, women used to keep diaries to cope with the hardships and challenges that they experienced. In the same way, you can write your experiences and memories to help you deal with the strain and pressure that life throws at you. Whenever you write them down, you will most likely read about them and use them for future reference.
A diary will always act as a time capsule. you can ultimately use to conserve your thoughts and feelings from critical times in your life. The different forms of diaries that exist include:
- Memoirs that are used to record facts about yourself,
- Journals that are used to record happenings in favour of the reader,
- Narrowly defined diaries that record expressions of emotion in favour of yourself,
- Open logs that record expressions of emotion in favour of the reader.
All these types are used as a way through which you can express yourself and record the things that affect you as an individual. Writing a diary is seen as therapeutic. This is because as you write your diary, you will most likely reflect, analyze yourself, and narcissistically enhance yourself. The beauty of writing is that it helps you organize your thoughts and find ways to solve your problems. Writing also helps reduce stress and anxiety that is caused by your thoughts.
If you are experiencing a negative mood as you write, you will most likely write in diary form.
This will always be an excellent way to clarify your attitudes and will help you feel better as you try and find a solution to your issues. It is always seen that when you write, your mood will most likely improve, and you will feel happier after you place the final full stop on your entry.
Apart from finding solutions for stress and anxiety, a diary can also be used for self-therapy and promoting health. Your diary is more or less your friend and also acts as a surrogate therapist. You will be able to communicate with this friend like never before, and you will be able to reveal information that you would never have, which is good at reducing stress and anxiety levels.
A diary also acts like a partner that can help to reduce the loneliness that you feel as a writer. This way, you will feel as though you are speaking to the right audience, and therefore, you will let out your personal feelings that may be stressing you out. In reducing stress and anxiety, writing in diaries thus helps in organizing thoughts and feelings, monitoring self-esteem, dealing with loneliness, and monitoring changes towards better health.
Journals
Another great medium that can be used for personal writing in a bid to reduce stress and anxiety is a journal. Since this medium has a more generic label, men and women find it more comfortable with making and can, therefore, take part in the writing process to reduce their stress and anxiety. When you create a journal, you will be creating something close to a diary in terms of content. A Query letter review is a vital document for writers seeking traditional publishers or literary agents.
The difference between journals and diaries is the fact that they need to be less private.
Many people are usually more than willing to share their journals. Since you will not need to hide all that you write in your scrapbooks. It is common to be asked to write them in your course of study. They are, however, also seen as an excellent way of reducing stress and anxiety since you still get to express yourself.
You can also use your journal for self-therapy. A journal is a right way for self-discovery, coping, and finding the joy of nurturing your voice and spirit. When you write, you can reflect and understand how you are feeling. Therefore, give yourself some form of therapy that can help you to cope with stress and anxiety.
Whenever you want to reflect on issues that are bothering you.
You will always have some doubt, hesitation, and the feeling of being perplexed. You will then feel the need to clarify, resolve, or at the very least, address the doubt. When you write what you feel in your journal, you are using it as a medium of achieving this and therefore be able to reduce your stress and anxiety level.
When you are writing, it is also essential to have a positive Reduce stress attitude when you are self-reflecting. Then you free yourself from prejudice and write whole-heartedly, you will most likely come up with a very great reflection of yourself. You will be able to identify the issues that push you towards stress and depression and most likely find ways of helping yourself.
When you reflect on writing a journal, it will be more beneficial. If you are open-minded that if you have a closed mindset. Many individuals have found that writing journals is useful. if you just want to reflect on every day.
life and identify the issues that pressure and strain you as a person.
Journals can also help you cope after a traumatic event.
In case you are not comfortable creating a journal, you can always visit useful Custom Writing Services Online websites like Peachy Essay. You will be able to gain assistance from expert writers. That can give you excellent tips on the best way to write your journal.
As discussed above, writing is a powerful tool. That can help you Reduce stress deal with many difficult issues in your life. No matter the medium that you decide to use. It is always important to keep a positive mind towards your goal. Stress and anxiety can be dangerous if left to develop. We should, using writing as an excellent tool for overcoming them.
Reference
McEwen, B., & Sapolsky, R. (2006). Stress and Your Health. The Journal Of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 91(2), 0-0. doi: 10.1210/jcem.91.2.9994
