Guest post by Desiree Villena.*

As someone who writes for a living, I’ll admit it’s not always something I want to do. Getting started some days is like pulling teeth (if you’ll pardon the cliché from this purported professional wordsmith).

But unlike a trip to the dentist, I always feel much better immediately after a writing session — mentally, emotionally, and sometimes even physically. To me, this is a sure sign that writing is good for my wellbeing, and I know that many of my writer friends feel the same!

So if you’ve yet to establish a regular writing habit — whether for lack of time, focus, or because you don’t think it will actually help you — take it from me that the effort is worth the reward. Here are four reasons I’ve found why writing is fantastic for your overall wellbeing, and why you should at least try to write every day as an act of self-care.

1. Writing helps you express and examine your thoughts

Let’s start with the therapeutic side. You’ve probably heard the virtues of journaling extolled again and again, and may have dismissed them in the past. But as anyone who actually journals can tell you, writing down your thoughts, feelings, and plans for the future can be immensely soothing and stabilizing.

Whatever you’ve struggled with recently — messy emotions, uncertainty about some aspect of your life, or the overwhelming knowledge of how much you have to do every day — writing it down can help you sort it out. You might start by examining your surface-level mental state: what did you do and think about today, and how did it make you feel?

There are various ways to approach this question. For example, if you had a rough day and simply want to rant about it, writing down all the bad things that happened and why they upset you can be incredibly cathartic. You could try reimagining a scene from your day with a more satisfying outcome, or even penning a letter to someone who irritated you (just don’t actually send it!). All these tactics help channel your consciousness into a concrete medium and release you from some of its burden.

The next step is to dissect what’s on the page. Ask yourself how much of your response is based on external factors and how much on your own pre-existing internal state. Think about what you did well, what you could have done better, and how you want to handle similar events and/or emotions the next time they crop up.

Of course, you don’t have to write about the day you just had — you can write about anything that’s on your mind. You also don’t have to write about something negative! As Melia Dicker points out in the article above, journaling is a great way to give thanks and cultivate optimism. Even if you start your writing session in a negative frame of mind, processing your feelings should make you feel more positive by the end of it.

2. Writing challenges you to try new things

As freeing as it can be to write what comes to you naturally, writing is also an excellent opportunity to challenge yourself. Plus, it’s important to switch up the contents of your writing so you don’t get sick of doing it day after day! To that end, I recommend alternating between journaling and gathering inspiration from other sources.

One of the best ways to do this is through writing prompts, which are expressly designed to help you write something different. For those who have never used prompts before, most of them provide a specific detail to spark your writing, but leave the rest open-ended: “Write a story about falling in love for the first time.” “Write a story that takes place on a train.” “Write a story about someone who was considered a child prodigy when they were younger.”

These were taken from a collection of creative writing prompts over on Reedsy, but it’s easy to find nonfiction and essay prompts online as well! In the interest of exercising those underused mental muscles, look for prompts that make you really dig for something to say, or perhaps even hone a new skill. When I want a challenge, for instance, I sometimes prompt myself to write “in the style” of other writers — this pushes me to broaden my creative perspective and test elements that I may eventually incorporate into my own writerly voice.

If you want to doubly challenge yourself, you can even pair writing prompts with short-term writing sprints (an aptly-named technique in the context of “exercising muscles”). I find it particularly exciting to decide on a certain amount of time in advance, then choose a prompt at random and start the timer; nothing like a time crunch to see what you’re truly capable of.

3. Writing facilitates focus in other ways

Not only can writing clarify your thoughts about yourself, it can also focus your actions in just about every capacity. This is true no matter what you’re writing about, because it’s not the subject matter, but the act of writing itself that helps you concentrate.

How does this work? Well, think about what writing is: just you and your writing implements creating something out of nothing. Though it’s not quite the same as meditation, because you’re actively thinking the whole time, it’s similar in that you’re entirely absorbed in a single activity. The level of focus you must maintain in order to write for extended periods is seriously impressive and can absolutely be harnessed for other tasks.

Indeed, once you start writing every day (or even most days), you’ll likely find that other activities become much easier. Whether it’s cooking a complicated recipe or paying attention during a long work meeting, you’ll feel calmer, steadier, and more patient with yourself and others — which has the added bonus of giving you more positive emotions to journal about!

So if you have a short attention span and often feel frustrated by everyday tasks, writing could be enormously helpful. That said, you still have to help yourself: try to write using pen and paper rather than on a screen, and avoid multitasking in other parts of your life as much as possible. All habits you build inevitably feed back into one another. The good news is that, over time, writing will organically improve your mindset about everything else.

4. Writing makes you feel accomplished

Finally, sometimes the best thing that can come out of a writing session is the simple, satisfying sense that you’ve accomplished something. Even if you’ve been slacking in other areas, having a good writing day can put you right back on top of the world.

To phrase it another way, just as your writing focus can be applied to other tasks, so can the act of finishing a writing session be used to incur general motivation. What feels better than getting something done? Writing something, no matter what form it takes, is one of the most effective reminders of that — and I usually find that after a writing session, the feeling of personal achievement makes me want to achieve more, even if it’s just running errands.

Some people may have a hard time mustering this sense of accomplishment when no one else actually sees what they’ve done. To that I say, why not find an accountability buddy? Fulfilling someone else’s expectations of your writing is a surefire way to feel accomplished, and having them work alongside you can create a wonderful sense of camaraderie.

Of course, every writer is different, and what works well for me may not be as useful to you. But odds are that at least one of these reasons will compel you to write more — and when you do, you’ll see for yourself just how great it is for your wellbeing and, as a result, your everyday life.

*Desiree Villena is a writer with Reedsy, a platform that connects authors with the world’s best professionals and resources to help them publish a book. She’s very passionate about self-publishing in particular and making it possible for authors everywhere to achieve their dreams! In her spare time, Desiree enjoys reading contemporary fiction and writing as much as possible, especially short stories.