How Writing Helps Anxiety

Have you ever just been living your life and then all of a sudden you feel nervous? You become short of breath, your heart palpitates, and you feel afraid?
 
Sometimes we experience these physical symptoms of anxiety but have no awareness of an emotional cause. 

But what does this have to do with writing? 

Well, there is an important connection. Learning about anxiety’s effects on us and on others shows us how we perceive the world, allows us to help others, and reveals how we can use writing to work through anxiety.

I want to make a distinction between worrying/fretting and anxiety that is triggered by an external source. Worrying is an unhealthy response to life in general, and is one we choose to have instead of being at peace with the way things are. When I speak of anxiety here, I am referring to a sudden, temporary onset of fear caused by a reminder of past experiences.

Let’s start our discussion with the why—what causes anxiety—particularly for those experiencing the physical symptoms without an apparent reason.

The Root Cause

Life is hard sometimes. There are phases when it is easier or harder, but at any point, we’ve been through difficulties, and it’s generally these events that affect us later. If we feel anxious, it’s usually because of something we’ve experienced in the past, whether we know it or not.

We often view anxiety as its own condition, a weakness, something to be avoided, or an unnecessary reaction. And while it may feel unwarranted or that it signifies feebleness, the fear is real, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. 

Loss of loved ones, traumatic events, ongoing battles with illness, difficult family situations, abusive relationships, uncertainty about the future, and a host of other issues—anything in our lives that is not right—can all cause anxiety.

But if these issues are our reality—what we live with, have accepted, or have already dealt with—then why do we sometimes feel scared or broken over them out of the blue? Why do they continue to affect us?

Triggers

Have you ever walked around a corner and been jump-scared by someone, or eaten a specific food and gotten sick afterward? Later, when you are near that corner or smell that food, you might have a reaction—a sense of apprehension or nausea. That place or scent triggers you. And this is an important key to understanding anxiety and our response to it.

A trigger is something unexpected—something we have no control over—that sets off our fear response. Let’s look at three distinct types of triggers and how they can affect us.

1. Date and Time

Our minds are aware of more than we realize, including what day it is. For example, if a loved one’s funeral was on a Friday, we may struggle more than usual on Fridays even if we don’t consciously associate Fridays with the funeral—our minds do this on their own. This type of connection is easier to identify, as the time feels similar each week, and our minds more readily conjure memories even if we haven’t figured it out yet. 

Some date and time triggers are more difficult to pinpoint. After I broke off an emotionally abusive engagement, I would break down most consistently on Thursdays. It took me months to recognize the connection: the more frightening interactions—the ones that caused the most intense and painful memories—had occurred on Thursdays. Not understanding the connection, I was only aware that I would feel more anxious and miserable on these days.

2. Place

Locations that hold significant meaning may make us feel afraid. Entering a deceased loved one’s home can stir feelings of anxiety as our minds are reminded that things are not as they should be, and as more vivid memories exist there. Leaving these locations can also be stressful as we try to cling to any sense of “normalcy” we can, which is one reason packing for trips can be a trigger.

I still feel afraid driving through the city where my former fiancé lived and where we spent a lot of time. I expect myself to handle it well as my day-to-day life is for the most part fine, but I am not at peace when I travel through this area.

3. Event

Certain events and situations may cause anxiety. Sometimes it’s a simple connection, such as a birthday party, holiday, or milestone event we’re celebrating without someone dear.

It may also be a small, mundane occurrence that we subconsciously connect to a painful or vivid memory. Seemingly normal events such as standing in the checkout line, folding laundry, someone touching us, or a specific song playing on the radio may go unnoticed most of the time and then other times cause sudden panic or tears. This can be confusing, but it’s part of figuring out how to process and deal with what we’ve experienced.

Recognizing these triggers for what they are won’t make them go away, but it does help us give ourselves (and others!) more grace as we process our fears. It also provides a level of predictability as we become familiar with our triggers and learn what to expect when they come. Because I know that driving through that city upsets me, I can mentally prepare for it by giving myself grace and understanding when I start to feel frightened, but also by praying in advance of and during the situation to work through it as it occurs.

Write It Out

Because healing is not linear or predictable and triggers may “ambush” us when we least expect it, we may struggle when we think we should be fine. That’s okay. Identifying what we feel instead of ignoring or powering through it will help us heal; otherwise, the pain behind the fear will eventually catch up with us, and it’s better to mitigate that by not bottling our feelings up.

Writing is a structured, productive way to practice this:

1. Writing Slows Us Down

When we write, we automatically decelerate our thought process. We are slowed to thinking one letter, one word, and one sentence at a time. This breaks our feelings and thoughts into smaller chunks and reduces our thinking/processing pace. It helps us relax.

Start however you need to, but start. I can’t tell you how many of my journal entries have started with, “I don’t know what to say” or “I have nothing to say.” As Ernest Hemingway stated, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” That’s how we begin, and it truly is effective at getting the ball rolling when we’re holding a lot of pain inside.

2. Writing Brings Clarity

While our writing may initially seem like a tangled mess, it eventually reveals a pattern to our thoughts that is more lucid than when they’re rushing around pell-mell and undefined in our minds. It clearly and visibly spells our feelings out on paper. That itself—seeing our suffering in black and white—puts it in a readable, digestible, recognizable form, which is easier for us to accept and understand.

Writing also brings clarity in retrospect. Reading over what we’ve written is extremely beneficial. Often during a writing session, we feel all stirred up. But afterward, when we can look back at what we’ve written, we can take in what we’re feeling from the outside instead of it all being muddled up inside. We can literally see it from a different perspective.

3. Writing Provides a Roadmap

Not only will writing everything out show us where we’ve been, but it also reveals a trajectory of where we’re headed. Being able to look back on our initial reactions and watch them evolve throughout the healing process is a therapeutic exercise in itself.

What to Write

Write how you feel. If you need to, journal chronologically. Turning your experience into fiction can also help; I’ve done this as it separates you from what you’ve experienced while allowing you to record all of the details honestly. It is a very healing exercise. And if you can’t initially discern a system for recording your pain, don’t worry—one will materialize, perhaps over several weeks or months. Be patient with yourself and start small.

Whether we write our feelings in a journal, into our character’s lives, in the form of poetry, as a letter to a friend, or as a prayer, putting them into concrete words is an excellent cathartic exercise. In addition to helping us, it can someday—if and when we’re ready to share—help our readers by giving them something they can relate to and showing them they aren’t alone.

Realize This

We’re often taught or expected to avoid anxiety or get past it within a certain amount of time (even by our own selves), or to label it as “stress” or “exhaustion.” But it is not wrong to feel anxious.

I’ve struggled with this because I’ve read these verses as a command against feeling anxious: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6–7)

So, isn’t saying that it’s okay to feel anxious contradictory? No. 

Remember the distinction I made earlier? There is a difference between living in a constant state of anxiety—responding to life in a worried, fretting way—and struggling with fear that is triggered by past experiences. Now the same principles apply; we don’t want to dwell in this state. But there is room for having feelings and working through them. In the Psalms, David was afraid countless times. He admitted his feelings to God, he felt them, and he dealt with them through prayer, pouring out his feelings through writing and music. 

While we’re here on earth, it is okay to not feel okay, and more importantly, it is okay to admit that—to ourselves, to others, and to God. While we don’t want to dwell on what’s wrong, we don’t want to downplay it either. That is counterproductive to dealing with it.

The Real Hope

But the best news of all is that no matter what we feel, that is not what will win. Through Christ, we can have victory over this world, over the death we are living in. He is our power, and through Him we have mastery. God’s peace which surpasses all comprehension will guard our hearts and minds—this is a promise.

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” Paul asks in Romans 8. “Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 37–39)

Wrapping Up

Over time, our trigger responses will happen less often and be less intense. Depending on their cause, they may never go away completely, but as we grow more familiar with ourselves and with our unique triggers, life becomes easier to navigate. And while it won’t be completely predictable, it will be more familiar, and with that familiarity and ability to recognize our response and the why behind it comes a sense of calm and a recognition that everything really will be okay in the end.

Thoughts or questions? Join in the discussion in the comments below or drop me an email!

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