Processing the transition by writing about it can be really helpful. Writing, after all, is how we listen to ourselves. It’s how we discover who we are and what we need. It’s how we connect to our core, our innermost thoughts, feelings, dreams, desires.
As John Cheever said, writing is how we make sense of life. And it’s how we can make sense of the transitions we’re experiencing.
Below are some ways you can use writing to explore your thoughts, feelings and reactions about the specific transition you’re going through (whatever it is). Because here’s the thing about transitions: They often transform us. And through writing we can explore this transformation. We can identify it. We can touch it. We can understand it, and thereby understand ourselves.
- Name three feelings or reactions you have about this transition. (Which might seem to contradict each other, such as sadness and joy, hopeful and lost.) Take each feeling, and explore it further and further until you reach the center of the emotion (i.e., your truth). To get there it might help to keep asking yourself, “Why?”
- Write about the transition as though you’re describing it to a close friend. Write about the transition as though you’re talking about it with a stranger. Do your descriptions match? Why or why not? How do you really feel?
- Describe the tastes, sounds and scents associated with this transition (before and after the change). For instance, if you’re in a new relationship, you might describe your partner’s voice, their perfume or cologne and the taste of their kiss. If you’ve moved into a new home, you might describe the noises of the neighborhood. If you’ve started a new job, you might mention the stale doughnuts and bitter coffee of your old office (which might explain why your boss was always so cranky).
- Write about the new challenges of this transition and how you might navigate them.
- Write about everything that you’re worried about when it comes to this transition. Let it all out. It doesn’t matter how piddly the worries seem. If it’s bothering you, jot it down.
- Write about what you’d tell a friend who’s going through the same experience.
- Write about three snapshots or images associated with this change that immediately pop into your mind.
- Write about the transition from the perspective of a child.
- If the transition feels negative, write about it as though it were an opportunity (e.g., an opportunity to learn, to grow, to master a specific skill, to challenge yourself). Here, you also might adopt the perspective of a child.
It doesn’t matter what kind of transition you’re going through. It’s always worthwhile to write. Because in writing we explore our hearts, and, again, we listen. We listen deeply to our truth.
0 comments:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου