How Writing Changed My Life

It is impossible to recount all the ways writing has changed my life. But is has, and still does. Writing has transformed me in body, mind, and spirit. Writing has saved me, it has sustained me. Writing is the one thing I can count on at any time of day or night, in any frame of mind, for any reason, and in any capacity. Writing is my friend, my constant companion, my therapist, and my conscience. Writing is what I turn to when I need solace and understanding, comfort and compassion, listening and accepting, creative expression and artistic adventure. The writing experience is non-judgmental and non-critical, open and welcoming, free and easy. Getting down my thoughts, ideas, passions, obsessions, questions, experiences, dreams, and accomplishments in words keeps me alive, gives me strength, teaches me, and transforms me.

Writing is a part of my life in the everyday scribbles in my journal, status reports on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/), emails to friends and family, and this blog. Writing is also a part of my creative life as I work to craft personal narrative, poems, a little fiction, and other writing experiments. I also write for self-understanding, personal expression, and inner transformation. To pursue the writing life I desire, I attend a weekly writing workshop with the amazing, Women Writing for (a) Change (http://www.womenwriting.org/). I am in the process of writing my graduate thesis with a focus on Women's Transformative Writing Process. And I am creating writing workshops for women to inspire others to use writing as a tool for transformation (http://www.womenswritingcenter.com/).

Writing is a part of my everyday. With each word written, each poem crafted, or personal story put down on the page, I am transformed. Through writing, I learn about myself -my wants and needs, my desires and passions, my obsessions and pitfalls, my fears and dreams. I learn about what I can do to create change in my life - and in changing my life, I create change in the lives of those around me. Writing is a generosity to others. As I learn more about who I am, I work hard to become a better person, to take positive actions, and make beneficial changes in myself and the world around me. That generosity to myself reaches out to others as the gift of writing.

As I said, it is impossible to recount all the ways writing has changed my life, but here are a few:

• I have gained greater appreciation and respect for the world around me by paying attention to and writing down the details.
• Writing has seen me through break-ups and losses, confusion and self-doubt, and has been a comfort to me in sadness and pain.
• The journal was an important tool in the total transformation of my body and spirit when I recently lost over 80 pounds. I used the journal, not only as a food diary, but also to record my feelings about the physical and emotional changes through the process of losing weight.
• In writing, I tell the truth and express myself more clearly and more creatively than I can with the spoken word. Writing gives me a voice on the page that I do not necessarily have in public.
• Writing has given me the strength and the motivation to create significant change in my life from moving across the country, to applying to college and eventually graduate school, and even pursuing my writing dreams. I truly believe in the practice of writing it down and making it happen.
• Writing keeps a record of my life - my adventures and experiences, my relationships, my dreams and goals, my losses and gains. My writing is the evidence of my existence.

Writing has changed my life - in all the ways listed above and many more. I discover new ways to create change through writing almost every day. Writing is a transformative process that continues to evolve and grow. Writing is a journey, and I am traveling on...