Why writing is good for you

You don't have to be Theresa of Avila to keep a journal! We wanted to share three good reasons to make writing part of your daily activity: 1. It improves your communication skills. It helps you organize your day. It reduces anxiety and helps in coping with difficult situations.

Support Aleteia! Here are some numbers: 20 million users around the world read Aleteia. As you can imagine, these numbers represent a lot of work.

We need you. It only takes a minute. Thank you! In a post packed with references to recent scientific research, Ciotti lays out the case that "expressive writing" -- essentially some form of journaling -- has a host of more personal benefits, including but not limited to these:. Ciotti references a number of studies to back up his assertion that writing is great for your well being. For instance, one study out of Southern Methodist University revealed that writing about future goals makes you happier.

Another showed jotting down thoughts in a journal can help those with stressful jobs cope with the pressure. In line with the study about stressful jobs, other research demonstrates that similar forms of expressive writing writing out your thoughts and feelings like in a diary helps those coping with stressful situations such as unemployment.

Writing allows abstract information to cross over into the tangible world. It frees up mental bandwidth, and will stop your Google Chrome brain from crashing due to tab overload. When his wife lost a suitcase that contained all existing copies of his short stories, the work was, to his mind, gone for good. He had written himself out the first time around.

Getting important ideas down alleviates the stress caused by anticipating this dreadful outcome. Committing to creating a volume of work also allows you to tackle big ideas more effectively. In this way, writing encourages a specific style of personal development. The ability to leave an impact at scale through your words alone is a pretty amazing concept.

Even in the face of criticism, writers learn to build thick skin like few others. Criticism, even unwarranted criticism, is the breakfast of champions. About Writing. The psychological benefits of writing. Personal and non-fiction writing is a fascinating topic because I get the sense that many successful people are secretly regular writers: Warren Buffet has described writing as a key way of refining his thoughts and that is a man who reads and thinks a whole lot.