Help Yourself: Write Every Day
I awaken to the buzzing vibration of my cell phone on the bedside table. Without opening my eyes, I swat at the alarm. After a moment of deep breathing, I prop myself up, switch on the small light next to the bed, and, swinging my legs from under the covers, retrieve my morning journal and favorite pen from their place just out of reach if I’m still lying down. Armed with my writing tools, my slippered feet pad down the hall — silent. An awakened child would halt this morning ritual in its tracks. The necessary smell of coffee drifts throughout the house — the automatic coffee maker is worth more than its weight in gold. Full coffee cup now in hand, my writing tools and I retreat to the cozy desk I have laid claim to in my conquered corner of the living room. Sunbeams are beginning to illuminate the sacred blank pages that I have at my fingertips each day.
To start each day in peaceful solitude, writing whatever comes — this may sound like a simple luxury at first glance, but there are real reasons to make this kind of daily writing a foundational piece of your practice as a writer.
INSPIRATION
Instead of waiting for inspiration to come to you while you’re walking down the street, a daily writing practice opens the door and welcomes in your creativity and ideas. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, maintains that there are ideas all around us. She says that if we don’t open ourselves up to those ideas, they will simply move themselves on to another more available person. Consistently showing up to write allows for those ideas to find their way to us. William Strafford also insisted that daily writing was the element of his practice that allowed for his success. He created his own structure to write within each day and pulled bigger works from his simple daily process.
At times it can feel like inspiration is hard to come by, that you have to wait for that one perfect idea to get started on a project. With a daily writing practice, you will be amazed at how many ideas come to you — seek you out. On days that you find yourself at a loss for inspiration, you will have a whole slew of written work to look back upon, to sift through, to remind yourself that you have the door or window open to the magic that is looking for an owner.
THOUGHTS
Setting aside daily writing time allows you to focus on your thoughts. Julia Cameron developed her idea of “Morning Pages” to do just that. Her structure dictates three handwritten pages each morning. She says on her blog that this process “connects us more intimately to our thoughts”. Regardless of what you have written, the simple act of writing each day helps to put the thoughts that would otherwise remain unexamined in your mind on display in front of you. These ideas can now be investigated — leading to other written work but also to a clearer understanding of ourselves.
Beginning your day connected to your self and your own thoughts is important far beyond the scope of writing. Use this time as you need to. Stream of consciousness writing can lead to a clearer mind with your ideas and thoughts laid before you on the page.
STRESS
At times it can feel like there are ideas and thoughts in our minds that we don’t want to investigate further — the stresses, anxieties, and troubles of our lives are things you may try to keep at a distance. But, in research done by Dr. James Pennebaker of the University of Texas, Austin, it has been shown that frequent writing about those more challenging topics leads to better overall mental health and ability to deal with those stresses and traumas.
Most people will agree that life is stressful: balancing home and work, children and partner, relationships and self, productivity and relaxation. Your days can get away from you and you find yourself breathing for the first time when you finally sit down on the edge of your bed before going to sleep. Not only does daily writing itself promote well-being, but the act of creating a daily ritual is also a grounding and calming place from which to start each day.
Making space in your life for a daily routine of writing is much more than a treat some people decide to give themselves. It makes for true change and benefits you in more ways than one. While initially creating this space may be difficult — habit-forming is a challenging endeavor — you will reap the benefits. Dig through the empty notebooks you’ve been gifted and never had the time to fill or grab a legal pad. Find a pen with the right glide and weight. Choose your cozy corner, and set up your materials for tomorrow morning.
If you would like to join us at Hallelujah Farm Retreat to work on your writing journey, we are hosting a retreat in June of 2020. Click here for more details.
