Benefits of a Daily Writing Habit
Dear Younger Me,
Yesterday I wrote about the importance of developing healthy habits in your life. If you want to grow to reach your potential and find your purpose in life, you need to be intentional and diligent about developing the right habits in your life.
There are at least three core habits that I want you to work. The first, that I wrote about yesterday, is the habit of daily reading. You must work on becoming a person who loves reading.
The second habit that you should work on developing is the habit of daily writing.
I started a daily writing habit at about age 15. I was a new Christian who was struggling with a lot of issues in my life. I was told to take my problems to God in prayer. But prayer was hard for me. I have ADHD and find it extremely difficult to sit still and focus to pray.
I shared my struggle to pray with my Youth Pastor, and he gave me some great advice that became a catalyst for significant life change for me. He gave me a blank journal and told me to just write out my prayers to God and any other thoughts I had. Just write it down.
It was simple advice which I took it seriously. I started to write out my prayers. It’s been over 30 years since I was given that advice to write out my prayers. And in the 30 years since, I have filled up hundreds and hundreds of journals. I have boxes and boxes of old journals in my garage and my office. Writing daily has changed my life.
Results of Writing Daily
Let me share the top three reasons I recommend developing a daily writing habit.
1) Writing daily has helped me become a better, healthier person.
The habit of daily writing has helped me grow to become a better and healthier person. It has helped me grow in a deeper way than any therapist ever could.
The more you write, the more vulnerable you will allow yourself to be. You will start to see the common patterns of your emotional ups and downs and what triggers them. You will grow to understand yourself more. And with self-understand comes greater self-compassion.
It has helped me understand my own narrative. It has helped me face my wounds and weaknesses with hope and compassion.
And because I write only when I’m alone, I have learned to enjoy being alone with only my thoughts. I used to seek out crowded, noisy, frantic environments with lots of drama because I never wanted to be alone with my thoughts. Writing helped me confront the negative thoughts and voices in my head that criticized and condemned me.
The habit of daily writing down my thoughts has helped me become more in-tuned to my own emotions. Writing down my feelings forced me to become a better friend to myself. And as I learned to show more compassion and care to myself, I also became a more caring a compassionate towards others.
The habit of daily writing helped guide me on my path of personal acceptance and inner healing.
2) Writing daily has developed a deeper spirituality and connection to God.
The second big result of writing daily is that it helped me develop a deeper spirituality and an intimate connection with God. When I first started writing out my prayers to God, I didn’t feel like I could actually write out how I really felt. Even if I felt angry with God, I didn’t feel the permission to write it down on paper.
That’s until I started reading the Psalms. Half of the Psalms are called “Psalms of Lament,” which means they are written accounts of people complaining to or about God. The Psalms are full of people whining: “How long O Lord? How long will you let my enemies triumph over me? How long will you forget me forever?”
Through an amazing book called “A Sacred Sorrow,” by Michael Card, I learned that lament (complaining to God) is one of the purest forms of worship there is. When you can go to God with heart broken with disappointment and be completely honest and vulnerable about how you feel, an intimate connection with God is created.
Michael Card says that lament is not a sign of doubt, but a sign of faith. That the reason you can share your disappointments with God is because you believe God is good and that he hears you. If you were faithless and hopeless, you wouldn’t even bother enough to be disappointed.
I would say that in my early years of journaling, at least 70% of what I wrote was some form of complaining to God. And as my disappointments and complaints drove me to the page, it also drove me to God himself.
Outside of Bible Study and being committed to a local church, I believe that daily journal writing has had the biggest impact on my spiritual growth.
3) Writing daily has helped you become a creative and prolific content creator.
The process of writing daily has helped to me become creative and prolific. Writing daily helped to silence the inner critic in my head that questions the quality of my ideas.
The habit of daily writing has unlocked creativity in my life. As I write, new ideas generate in my head each day like gremlins in water. I am more creative and inspired than ever before.
Writing daily has also helped me find my unique voice and perspective. The more I wrote, the more I became comfortable being myself on the page. I found my voice and my own unique perspective.
The habit of journaling is the catalyst for your creativity. Ideas for sermons, books, ministries, and projects will come from your journal.
Closing Encouragement
So, dear Younger Me, please trust me. Work on developing a habit of daily writing. As you begin this journey, let me give you a quick piece of advice to get you started. Don’t buy an expensive journal or use a fancy pen (although you will later develop an obsession for fountain pens). Expensive journals and fancy pens make journaling seem special, reserved only for important thoughts and fancy words.
No, daily journaling is meant to be messy and ordinary. Go and buy a cheap journal from the dollar store. Take it and a cheap pen or pencil with you wherever you go. And just write down everything that comes to you. Begin the morning with the “morning pages” free writing exercise. But whatever you do, just start. You won’t be disappointed.
Just trust me,
Your Future Self
