Why writing helps us heal
When life gets the best of us and all seems dark, we tend to search for something—or anything—that can once again make us breathe. For others, writing is that lifeline. Writing isn’t merely laying down words on paper. Writing is letting out the weight we carry, taking silent pain and making it something real and tangible—something we can now begin to comprehend.
Writing following trauma isn’t about reading like poetry or something slick. It’s about honesty. When we undergo emotional suffering, we tend to be unable to rationalize it. Our minds spin in circles. We bear guilt, confusion, fright, and sorrow like invisible burdens. But when we cross the page and begin to write—even just a sentence or two—we lose the burden a little.
Journaling, poetry, or fiction can all be potent modes of self-expression. They form the messiness we experience internally. A jumbled idea is now a sentence. A painful memory is now a narrative. A tear is now a metaphor. In that instant, we start to feel less solitary in our existence.
From Expression to Transformation
A beautiful illustration of this is found in books that bear emotional honesty at their center—where honest thinking is transformed into art. Miranda Baron’s writing is powerful, introspective, and bears this type of honesty. Her words in the book, “The Essence” are for anyone who has ever struggled with loss, loneliness, or aching for something. They serve as gentle evidence that painful moments can be written beautifully.
Most authors who have experienced trauma report that they didn’t begin writing with healing in mind. They simply needed to release it. Eventually, however, they found their pain easing. Their narratives enabled them to accept the past. And their words—occasionally harsh, occasionally gorgeous—provided light where they never imagined light would be.
Healing in writing isn’t forgetting the pain. It’s learning to be present with it, reframe it, and sometimes even find a reason in it. And sometimes telling it—telling that pain—in poems, journal pages, or very intimate stories—sends a ripple of healing through others, as well.
Let Your Words Lead You Back to the Light
If you’re stuck, try getting out a pen or cracking open a blank page. You don’t have to know how it’s going to go. Just begin with where it hurts. Perhaps write a letter you’ll never mail. Perhaps write about a day you’d like to have gone differently. Perhaps, write about who you’re becoming.
You don’t need to be a writer in order to heal through writing. You merely need to be courageous enough to be truthful about yourself. As Miranda Baron patiently illustrates, even the most muted of voices can hold the most profound truths. And sometimes, that small bit of courage is all it will take in order to start the process of returning to the light.