Why should you write down your negative thoughts?

It helps to get rid of them. I tried it and you should too. It works.

Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels

If you’re reading this, then you must’ve clicked on this article for one of these two reasons (or maybe both):

1. You already thought about writing your negative thoughts, but you always had questions in your mind about its practicality.
2. You’re having numerous negative thoughts in your mind, but you don’t know how to get rid of them

If you’re the one with only the first question in your mind, then let me give you a straight answer — It helps. In a major way. I tried it out and the only thing that crossed my mind after I started doing it was, why didn’t I try it before?

So, stop wondering if it will work. Just do it. It will be worth it.

For the second category, I can begin by saying that I totally empathize with your situation. I was in a similar rut a few months back. I know what it feels like to have negative thoughts. It’s almost like you’re stuck in a quicksand and the more you try to get out of it, the more it envelops around you and tries to swallow you.

What follows is a constant feeling of panic, anxiety and hopelessness. It’s almost as if you want to express, but you don’t know how to do it. So, your mind just keeps tossing your thoughts from one end to the other and so on, until it becomes a loop.

Writing breaks this loop. When you start writing, your mind gets an outlet. You start by writing down a letter, then a word, then a whole sentence and then it just takes off. You know what to write next. It’s not fiction that you’ve to create ideas, or characters or situations; it’s your life and you know what’s causing you so much pain and trouble.

Let me try to explain you in a simple way. Imagine a rubber tube filled with water. If you prick it with a needle, the water will leak from the pores, slowly, but continuously. If you prick it more number of times, the water starts leaking from multiple pores. Until one day, when it’s all empty.

Our mind functions in a similar way. If the words and thoughts that incessantly stalk the different corners of the brain don’t get kicked out, then they become a menace. Keep poking it. Don’t let it settle or allow it to manufacture thoughts which probably doesn’t even exists in the real world.

A bad day in office, a fight with your partner, a coffee stain on your favourite dress or shirt — No matter how big or small. Just write them down.

So, pick up a pen. Let your nerves dry out the negative thoughts. Let the paper soak your emotions and allow the words to echo — “It’s gonna be alright.”

This story is published in a Few Words, Medium’s publication that only accepts stories under 500 words.

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