Quarantine Creative Distractions: Try Writing To Save Your Life
One way to find clarity in quarantine is to write— not for work or for publication— but for yourself.
If only you had the time to write. Maybe now you just might.
“ If only you had the time to write. Maybe now you just might. #Quarantine #COVID19”
Millions across the country are WFH—working from home—and have been for the past several weeks. They will be sheltering in place for several more weeks or months perhaps during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many at the same time are e-schooling children, caring for family members and partners.
The economic, physical and emotional burden on so many is catastrophic—and that is even the lucky ones who are healthy without a positive diagnosis of the virus.
“The economic, physical and emotional burden on so many is catastrophic—and that is even the lucky ones who are healthy. #COVID19”
Derek Thompson writes in The Atlantic, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 29 percent of Americans can work from home, including one in 20 service workers and more than half of information workers. So while servers are still manning the restaurants, the technology sector has effectively gone remote. Amazon, Apple, Google, Twitter, and Airbnb have all asked at least some of their employees to stay away from the office.”
Thompson writes, “The coronavirus outbreak has triggered an anxious trial run for remote work at a grand scale. What we learn in the next few months could help shape a future of work that might have been inevitable, with or without a once-in-a-century public-health crisis.”
Many are producing at the same level of productivity, while others are trying to fill in the gaps that layoffs, shutdowns and income collapses have created. It is a distinct challenge to accomplish everything we need to do.
“Many are producing at the same level of productivity, while others are trying to fill in the gaps caused by layoffs, #shutdowns and income collapses. #WFH”
“Some of the biggest challenges for employers include workers struggling with loneliness, managing their time, and communication among staff members. What's more, as schools and colleges shut down across the US, working parents must juggle company and family priorities,” according to Business Insider. “While this all can be tough, finding a strategy that works can help you make it through.”
Thousands of websites, apps, Youtube videos and webinars are aimed at giving you the tools to cope, create, distract and amuse yourself during quarantine.
“Thousands of websites, apps, @Youtube videos and webinars are aimed at giving you the tools to #cope, create, distract and amuse yourself during #quarantine.”
Writing is one way, and science backs up the declaration that writing can be healing and personally satisfying. Try #WritingToSaveYourLife.
“Writing is one way, and science backs up the declaration that writing can be healing and personally satisfying. Try #WritingToSaveYourLife. ”
As the author of Writing To Save Your Life, my suggestion during this time is that you can create time to write—not for work, not for publication—but privately for your own clarity, edification and relief. Research supports the claim that writing can be therapeutic.
“As the author of Writing To Save Your Life, my suggestion during this time is that you can create time to #write for your own clarity. #Selfcare”
“In a 2006 behavioral therapy study, participants who wrote in the expressive writing style (journaling or the act of keeping a diary) showed significantly lower depression symptoms than those who did not. By writing, editing, and rewriting your own version of events, you can achieve a cathartic experience and see the situation more clearly, often changing how we view the situation we are in,” according to Big Think.
Writing is just talking on paper. If you believe that simple concept and if you tell yourself that writing is only talking to yourself, you can eliminate the first five hundred excuses for not writing. If you want to write, then write. You can’t get better and you can’t get to the heart of your truth until you pay homage to the words inside you and write them down.
“If you want to write, then write. You can’t get better and you can’t get to the heart of your truth until you pay homage to the words inside you. #WritingAdvice”
Your words are not primed for publication and will not be e-mailed, faxed, tweeted or sent to another soul unless you choose that to happen. Because you have taken the step to write down the words and claim what is inside you, it does not mean you will be driving down the expressway tomorrow and see your words on a billboard.
They are still your words. It is still your truth. The act of writing your thoughts and feelings does not relinquish the property rights to your past. You have sole custody of all of it. Releasing the words from inside you does not loosen your control of the words and their truth
“ The act of writing your thoughts and feelings does not relinquish the property rights to your past. You have sole custody of all of it. #Creativity #Selfcare #StayInStayInspired”
“Good writing is about telling the truth,” novelist and memoirist Anne Lamott wrote in her bible of good writing, bird by bird. It’s a book I quoted from so often to my classes that several of my Northwestern University graduate students one summer gave me a beautiful, graceful silver bracelet with the inscription “bird by bird.”
The writing will be good because it is true. Own that belief. Your story is yours and you have taken control of it. Once acknowledged in words, the truth can be put in perspective and will relinquish its stranglehold on you. You’ll be free.
1. Make a list of the ideas you have in your head and what you want to express in your writing. Beneath each of these ideas, write down what you hope to gain from exploring your feelings and emotions. For instance, if you write down “The trouble with my co-worker,” be specific and write “When we are in meetings, she interrupts me.” You may also write “clarity” or “calm” or you may want “closure” from an issue you are revisiting.
“Make a list of the ideas you have in your head and what you want to express in your writing. #WritingAdvice ”
2. Select one Big Idea from this list to start with today. The Big Idea is a declarative sentence that includes the word I. Your Big Idea must be in the active voice, rather than the passive voice. It is much more helpful to write “I ended my relationship because I didn’t trust” instead of “My relationship was ended because of a loss of trust.” Write your specific feeling or reaction to an event or a relationship. For instance, your Big Idea could be “I am struggling with my economic insecurity,” or “I am afraid of getting ill.”
“Select one Big Idea from this list to start with today. For instance, your Big Idea could be “I am afraid of getting ill.” #WritingTips #amwriting ”
3. Use your Big Idea as a bumper sticker for your writing. Keep it in front of you as you write so you don’t get too far off the point. If you want to explore your feelings of fear in your marriage, don’t start writing about the ham and eggs you had for breakfast. Instead, write what is at the heart of your Big Idea. And do your best to stay on course.
“Writing your truth aligns perfectly with @Gloria Feldt ‘s #1 Leadership Power Tool, Know Your History @takeleadwomen. #Healing #WritingTips”
How you write doesn’t matter. Write in a journal. Write in pencil on a yellow legal pad. Type on your laptop or tablet. But write to gain control over the life you really don’t have a lot of control over now.
Michelle Obama writes in her 2019 book on journaling, Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice: “There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice.”
This aligns perfectly with the 9 Leadership Power Tools created by Gloria Feldt, co-founder and president of Take The Lead. The first tool is Know Your History.
Writing can help you discover more about yourself and your history, perhaps pushing you forward in a positive way through this difficult time.
“#Writing can help you discover more about yourself and your history, perhaps pushing you forward in a positive way through this difficult time. #COVID19”
