Just by writing at least one story, you can provide love and comfort to somebody during their darkest days.
We all have good days, and we all have bad days. I don’t know a single person in this world that is perfect and has their entire life in order with no sadness, anger, resentment, or stress.
I can have afew good days, then just like that, anxiety strikes, and I spend the rest of the week struggling to step even one foot out of bed each morning. I feel completely cut off from the rest of the world, it’s as if nobody can see or hear me, it’s exhausting. Anxiety is exhausting, and I wouldn’t wish it on my own worst enemy.
This is one of the reasons why I love writing online. I get to empty my mind and write my worries away. There’s nothing like opening up a blank document, placing my hands on the keyboard, and allowing my mind to do all the talking.
Not a single person in my family knows I write online. I wrote an entire article about this because I choose to keep it private for various reasons. You can read that article right here if you wish. ⬇⬇⬇⬇
Why I Choose To Keep My Writing A Secret From My Family And Friends
Before I worked up the courage to write, I would spend hours and hours a day searching for stories similar to mine. Stories that I could fully relate to, where I could read a couple of sentences and say to myself, “this is me. I do this every single day.”
I have people I can talk to in my family, but because I’m such an anxious mess I keep a lot of my feelings hidden, so they think, “oh, Julies fine. She seems like she’s got all her shit together.” Whereas in reality, I’m falling apart.
“Never underestimate the pain of a person. Because in all honesty, everyone is struggling. Some people are better at hiding it than others.”
It may seem difficult to prepare stories for others to read, not because they’re hard to write, but it’s the fear and embarrassment of others reading about your personal life. You may feel like you’re the only person in the entire world who feels that way, and it always sucks to receive negative feedback. However, once you overcome those feelings you’ll feel such a sense of achievement.
To be honest, anybody who talks down to you or makes you feel like crap are not worth your time. There’s a block button for a reason.
You’re going to come across the odd troll every now and then because that’s the downside of writing online for the whole world to see, but don’t take it to heart. Remember how strong, polite, and awesome you are, and see them for what they are, nasty, bitter and rude.
Ispent so long reading other people’s stories because they made me feel good about myself. I felt like I wasn’t alone, other people felt the same way as me, and It was such a comfort. I’m not saying it was the ultimate magic cure because it wasn’t. I still had alot of miserable days, but it sure brought a couple of smiles to my face and I started to feel somewhat human again.
I’ve managed to help lots of people around the world with my stories. I write a lot about my anxiety and everything I do to manage it, and when I started writing here, I thought nobody would read anything I had to say because Let’s face it, I’m not the best writer in the world. To be honest, I feel like I suck at writing, but hey, I don’t care, as long as you can all understand what the heck I’m saying then that’s all that matters lol.
Being able to help others feels so good. I’m overjoyed when I receive such lovely messages from people telling me how much they can relate to my stories, how much I inspire them, and how I’ve managed to make them feel better about themselves. It’s so heartwarming knowing that I can help somebody out there feeling the same way as I have — because I understand how dark that place can be, and how completely soul-destroying it is.
If you have no idea what to write about, then think about your own life. What struggles have you overcome? how does anxiety/depression make you feel? what do you do in your daily life? do you suffer intrusive thoughts? you can write about literally anything.
Because like me, you will be able to brighten somebody’s day even if you don’t know it. I know that when I used to read everybody’s stories before I eventually decided to write my own, I never commented, liked, or anything because I wanted to remain as invisible as I could. I was much more a watcher/reader than a commenter/engager.
So even if you think nobody will want to read that story that you’ve been itching to write, write it anyway because you never know who is reading your work in secret. You could be the person to inspire them to write there own stories, and that is such an amazing thing.
If you are one of my secret readers, then a great big hello to you. Remember, anxiety and depression suck, but they don’t define you. You can and will feel better. ♥