I don’t know about you, but I constantly struggle with stress whenever I’m trying to write. This stress I find myself under when writing can be caused by several thoughts – is the writing good enough? Is the story entertaining? Am I heading in the write direction (sorry for the pun, it just felt write)? Why am I spending more time being stressed about my writing than I am thinking about writing, or actually writing?
There are a lot of other things I’ve thought about that can stress me out when I’m writing, but instead of discussing everything I stress over when I’m writing, I’m going to try and turn this into something creative and useful, and talk about some of the things I (and you!) can do to deal with stress when writing.
Writing Something Else
I try to work on two long-term projects at a time (whether these will ever see the daylight is another question), and being long-term projects, I can sometimes get stuck, leading to me getting a dose of stress when I’m writing. Though it may sound counterintuitive, I will sometimes help myself out of a stress episode when I’m writing by working on a brief story instead.
This story will usually be less than 1000 words and have no planning whatsoever, but when writing it, I will have a short dose of creativity and help lower my stress levels (and you may too!). I’ve submitted some of these stories that I’ve written whilst stressed, and even had some of them accepted! But it works best as a small interruption from the long-term work that helps e out when writing something longer. I personally find that it keeps writing entertaining, even if it’s just for myself. I think that a lot of people forget that writing, like all creative pursuits and arts, should be entertaining on one level or another.
This other piece of writing can be a flash story like the kind I work on, a blog post, a Quora post, a tweet, or even a private journal entry of no more than fifty words, but it can be a tool to help get rid of your stress when writing. Taking the time to write down your own thoughts might also help to keep you motivated. Self-motivation is especially important when writing and combating stress, because instead of relying on external stimuli for help, you are instead getting encouragement from the one person you can rely on: yourself.
Self-motivation is important not just when writing, but in your daily life, and it is a great ability to have. So, if you’re working on a piece of microfiction or writing your most private thoughts down, this can be helpful in keeping yourself motivated and reducing stress when writing. It has also been found by The American Psychological Association that keeping a journal can help reduce negative thoughts and improve your working memory
Exercising
I know I’ve mentioned my long-distance running before, but you don’t need to do hours of exercise to deal with stress when writing. When I find myself becoming stressed when writing in the moment, one thing I will do is a quick burst of exercise for no longer than a minute. These may include:
- Press-ups
- Sit-ups
- Dead bugs
- Mountain climbers
- Stretching
This short burst of exercise can give me a nice energy boost when writing, and I find them particularly useful if I have to sit down for a long while. Alternatively, another thing I will do to deal with stress when writing is go for a walk.
I’m fortunate enough to have two dogs to take out daily, but even when I don’t have my dogs with me, I will sometimes pop outside and walk for a few minutes. There are countless studies that show how exercise can help people deal with stress. However, it is also believed that exercise can help with creativity, and that even walking can help you think creatively. So, the next time you are struggling when writing, you may want to just take a ten-minute walk around your neighbourhood. Perhaps you’ll find that it helps you with that lingering stress.
Just Breathe
Sometimes (okay, a lot of the time), I don’t feel like exercising if I’m stressed when writing, especially if I’m worn out by a run from earlier in the morning. Instead, I’ll do something that we all know how to do (hopefully): breathe.
There are studies showing that deep breathing can reduce stress and there are several techniques that you may want to try. Some of these are:
The main takeaway with breathing exercises is that although there are many approaches (like exercise), a lot of them can help reduce stress when writing, and during your day-to-day life.
Unplug and Take a Break
There are times when you may be so stressed when writing that you feel like you can’t write, or won’t be able to write anything, in that moment. And during those times, sitting at your workspace and becoming stressed will not be helpful. Maybe you’ve tried these other techniques and suggestions and you are still stressed when trying to write. In that case, you may want to just unplug instead.
I’ve sometimes been so tired and worn out and stressed from writing that I’ve had to unplug, and when I say unplug, I mean it: for me, this involves heading outside or retreating to books and comics to help recharge my batteries and reduce stress, as well as stimulate my brain to develop some of my own ideas to work on for my writing.
During a serious unplug, I won’t watch anything and will avoid my phone for a few hours. Sometimes I won’t feel like unplugging everything and will consume an entire show on Netflix, but I try to read more when I’m in these situations (hey, maybe if I’m writing a TV show one day, my script equivalent of unplugging will be watching loads of other shows?)
Reading can be particularly useful if you’re stressed when writing, since it has been found to reduce stress, and so you will be able to take in some good writing and lower your stress levels at the same time.
Sometimes, you may not want to read or watch anything when you’re stressed and unplugging, in which case I would recommend sleeping. It has been found that poor sleep can cause higher cortisol levels, contributing to a person becoming more stressed. If you haven’t been sleeping well or are just tired and stressed throughout the day, you could try taking up napping. Naps throughout the day can also help reduce stress and may even aid creativity, which will also be helpful when writing.
Of course, there are other ways to deal with stress when writing, but these are some methods that I, or people I know, have found particularly useful.
My final words are just a friendly reminder that when writing, for yourself or other reasons, try to find it entertaining. I don’t think that there’s much point in writing if you don’t find it entertaining or holding any other purpose.
What methods do you have to help fight stress when writing? Do you take up other creative activities instead? I should probably try drawing sometime, I’ve heard that it can help when writing and/or stressed, but I’m terrible at art. If you do have any methods to combat stress? Let me know down below!
Until next time, stay stress-free and keep writing/drawing/singing/playing/doing whatever it is that you do!
See you soon,
Conrad 🙂
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