Writing may seem boring, a waste of time, or just isn’t helpful to some, but writing can be a powerful tool for mental health. Expressing your feelings on paper or even typing them on a computer would relieve a lot of stress or feelings you may be experiencing.

The best part about writing about your feelings is that there are no rules. Writing could be creative or even be poetry. Writing poetry allows you to dig deep into your emotions and explore new ways to express yourself. Free writing can help your mental health and let your mind grow in beautiful ways. Free writing is a useful tool when you want to write about anything, letting your mind take control of the pencil and not worrying about grammar or any other rules. Free writing expands your writing skills, improves your reading comprehension, improves memory, and cognitive development which is the development of the ability to think and reason.

Writing can favor your mental health by clearing your mind, thinking more confidently, processing emotions and trauma, increasing self-awareness, organizing your mind, and smoothing your thoughts on paper or through a computer.

The Times interviewed a sophomore at Lafayette High School, Molly Miller. She stated, “Writing is good for mental health because it gets your thoughts out instead of keeping them in and not letting them build up.” This goes to show how writing can help you let things go.

No matter what you are experiencing throughout your day-to-day life, writing can be a benefit, even when you are writing about hurtful things. Mrs. Allen, an English teacher, said, “ I think writing is great for your mental health because it’s cathartic, meaning that sometimes what you have bottled up in you and you’re trying to process it allows you to get it down where you can process it better.”

Other coping skills that can help besides writing are music, cleaning, drawing, and reading. If you are more outdoors-centered, you might try coping skills like skateboarding, walking, running, and bird watching. All those can free your mind and allow you to think. Next time you have harmful and unwanted feelings, grab a journal or piece of paper and a pen and start writing about them. You may feel silly, and you may feel it is a waste of time until you try it.