A few months back, something happened in the office that left me stressed out. To be honest nothing severe, usual corporate stuff. But its side effects were quite unusual.
Suddenly my mind became disturbed, restless and dissatisfied with what had happened. I would be thinking about the same incident day and night. While working, while sleeping, while showering. It became difficult to focus on anything else.
My brain knew to stop thinking about it, but it didn’t know how?
Usually, I can handle this kind of emotional outbreak, but this one remained for more than a week. So I thought sharing might help. I discussed the story with my wife. It helped, but I was still not at peace.
It went for another week. I could not find a way to bring closure to this incident. And it started weighing on my mind. Even meditation did not help. Frankly, I felt a little helpless.
I am sure this has happened to many of you. Maybe not due to work-related incidents, but personal ones. And we have our own ways of handling these. Sometimes we even try to trick our brains to believe that we have gotten over this. But we seldom do.
Pen down your feelings
Fortunately, I happened to be writing my “Dear Diary” that week. I do not journal every day. Max like 6-7 entries per month.
I started writing about what happened. How I felt during that incident. Why I felt that way. What I was feeling now.
And slowly, I started feeling lighter. I don’t know what it is, but there is something magical about writing. It just slows down your train of thought. Every word, every sentence you write, is like running a reel in the back of your mind. Maybe that allows us to experience it differently.
And while I was journaling the incident I realized 3 things:
- I did not care about others’ perspectives earlier. That made the whole situation difficult to comprehend.
- How small the problem was that I was crying about. Again, the brain knew, but the heart accepting it is a different feeling.
- Lastly, even though I trust my wife, nothing compares to the privacy and safety that your “Dear Diary” provides.
That day I experienced the power of journaling and writing in general.
Since then I have been writing frequently. And more importantly, whenever I am feeling disturbed about something, I make sure to, like my English school teacher used to say “pen down my feelings”.
Have you felt like this before? What has helped you during your downtimes? Please let me know in the comments below.
I totally relate with the writing your thoughts to get new perspective. There is a book ‘The artists way’ which asks your to write morning pages. Every morning just write anything. You may want to try.