Defy Difficult Times by Setting Creative Goals

Our world has had a brutal year. We’ve all struggled to stay positive and productive while stuck inside our homes. We’ve sweated to Peloton workouts, snapped cute Instagram pics of our latest recipes, or binge-watched The Crown and Firefly Lane. 

Following the travails of Queen Elizabeth in her gilded palace or sympathizing with Tully Hart and Kate Mularkey as they navigate their 1970s adolescence in a haze of orange appliances has, for many of us, been a much-needed distraction. 

The troubled or glamorous or ordinary existences of characters on a screen or in the pages of a book can, at least for a while, help us to forget our own lives. Fiction (or a dramatized version of reality) can mentally transport a reader or viewer to another place, era, and human experience. It can shift our attention away from whatever causes us stress, fear, anger, sadness, and worry. 

Watching and/or reading can be a safe, reliable escape—and so is writing. Expressive writing—in which people journal about their personal thoughts and feelings, especially related to a traumatic event—could, according to Harvard Medical School, “help some people cope with the emotional fallout of such events.” 

Crafting fiction—a book, script, or poem of your own—might have the same effect. Dr. Cathy Malchiodi supports this possibility, noting that “in 2010, a review of existing literature on the benefits of the arts (music, visual arts, dance and writing)…considered more than 100 studies, concluding that creative expression has a powerful impact on health and well-being on various patient populations.” She also states that authentic artistic expression through writing is “central to why creativity is a wellness practice. “ 

So, it’s quite possible that engaging in a creative endeavor—such as writing a novel—might alleviate your anxiety now or during any other rough patch…and here’s how:

It’s shiny and new.  If you’ve been feeling cooped up, bored, and fixated on countless negative “what ifs,” try to replace those thoughts with the seeds of a novel. There are so many things to plan, such as what your characters look like and how they sound and what they say and why. Water your figurative seeds and watch them grow.

You can go places—in your head, that is.  Your imagination can take you anyplace. Where will your book be set? In your hometown or in a faraway city or in Hollywood of the roaring 1920s? When crafting a story, there’s no limit to how far your mind can wander. You can leave your worries behind as you take off. 

Research will busy your brain. Let’s say you do want your setting to be classic Hollywood. Although you might be familiar with the flapper era, you should become highly informed before embarking on a story during that period. What was the film industry truly like for actresses then? How did social standards and political ideology affect early moviemaking? Even with modern technology, thorough research is time-consuming…and fascinating. Spending hours investigating an interesting topic can be a great method of stimulating your mind and, at least for a while, forgetting your problems.

You’ll put your feelings into your characters. Expressive writing can be an effective way to reduce anxiety—but it’s not for everyone. Writing about your own feelings and personal experiences might seem too raw and revealing…and if it does, you can still reap the therapeutic benefits by doing it through the filter of fiction. If you’ve recently endured the loss of a relationship but consider it too painful to discuss or even recount in a diary, you could channel those feelings into a character. It can be easier to express your authentic thoughts when they’re coming through fictional people that you’ve created. The most poignant scenes often come from a mix of observation, imagination, and reality.

It’s good to have a goal. You know that glorious feeling of waking up in the morning and having something to strive for? Maybe it’s “I’m going to finish a 10-K this summer,” or “I want to be fluent in Spanish by the end of the year.” Focusing on a worthwhile achievement, and setting daily targets to meet that goal, can shift an anxious mindset to a more upbeat one. Reach for small milestones—like committing to completing one chapter every day. 

Nobody can stop you. An audition isn’t necessary. You don’t have to be hired. You can write whenever, wherever, and however you want. You have full authority over your work, and you should use it. Don’t be concerned if your plot and characters aren’t similar to anything you’ve read before. The Harry Potter books are unique, and J.K. Rowling did pretty well! Being the boss of your product and in control of your work can do a lot to raise your confidence and mood. This is your story…and it should come straight from you. 

Usually, the stories we love are the ones that are the most relatable. If, for example, you’ve suffered through the illness of a family member, reading a fictional account of a similar experience will probably make you feel much less alone. Whether you choose to show your novel to just a few friends or hope to land a traditional book deal, sharing your work could help somebody else—or maybe a lot of people—and no matter what you’re going through, that possibility should make you feel so much better.

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References:

Harvard Health Publishing (2011). Writing About Emotions May Ease Stress and Trauma. Retrieved at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/writing-about-emotions-may-ease-stress-and-trauma

Psychology Today (2015). Creativity as a Wellness Practice. Retrieved at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/arts-and-health/201512/creativity-wellness-practice

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Lorraine Zago Rosenthal is an author and freelance writer. 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lorrainezago

Website: http://lorraine-zago-rosenthal.blogspot.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lorrainezago/

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, How To and Tips