There is a myth out there that emotional distress is key to a writer’s creativity and is detrimental to a writer’s mental health. When we imagine a poet or writer, we imagine them sitting in a dark quiet room with tea/coffee/alcohol and deep thought, away from the world.
Most of the general population thinks that you only write when you’re in pain or something bad has happened to you. Well, I’m surrounded by the whole writing community and as far as I can see and remember there’s a mixture of both, although I don’t know all of them personally, some don’t have a brutal past and yet write beautifully. Some are just die-hard professionals.
Research says, there is a connection between mental illness and creativity. Writing is one of the top 10 professions that people are most likely to suffer from depressionwith men particularly at risk of the disease, according to the US website. But a writer’s creativity is not always a result of the writer’s state of mental health, but people are also talented, gifted and extremely creative.
I admire all writers who weave fantastic stories, write novels of 50,000 words, not because they suffer but because they are creative, they have a special thing with their language and vocabulary. On the contrary, otherwise, they don’t get the recognition they deserve, or when they are completely isolated, as writing is a lonely job, sometimes people don’t understand their opinions and writings. All of these and more add to the deterioration of a writer’s mental health.
Do you know what gets in the way of a writer’s mental health?
We writers occasionally experience writer’s block because of it low wages we get, unpredictable career choice, lack of supportive environment, isolated/lonely work, sociological factors, less recognition and more exploitation we face This fear of losing, losing the essence of reading and writing gets in the way of a writer’s mental health, so it’s not like you see a writer in kurta and jholait’s when you don’t value their creativity that you put them in a difficult position.
If so, anything that gets in the way of a writer’s mental health is low pay and exploitation of content in the name of work. Clients/companies literally exploit writers and pay them peanuts for the amount of work they put into creating a piece. Plus, if you’re a blogger/digital creator, people will come to your blog and want to work together, but most of them will offer a barter deal and late payments…sigh!
Then the pressure of creating unique and original pieces every time, writing another book, promoting it, dealing with tons of self-doubt, dealing with grammar nazis, then those social media trolls. Taking breaks from social media to keep our sanity and all the other things us writers do to get the best content out of our damaged minds.
It helps improve a writer’s mental health
Writing itself can have a significant impact on your mental health, acting as therapy for many. It’s time we start looking at blogging/content creation as a career option. When you ask GOOGLE for “How to cook pasta” to “Best self care tips”, it’s a content writer/blogger who writes the best optimized article or blog post to give you the best result on the first position and first page of Google.
It may seem like time flies to many, but writing requires a lot of mental strength and out-of-the-box thinking, plus courage to express your feelings. So what can help improve a writer’s mental health?
3 practical ways to improve a writer’s mental health
1.) Set realistic goals
Do achievable things, set goals based on your skills and abilities and not based on what others are doing. Prepare a content calendar, outline topics, set monthly tasks, divide them into small portions, tackle one task at a time.
2.) Write like no one is reading
As the saying goes, dance like nobody’s watching, I say, write like nobody’s reading. It might sound ironic, but it helps to write without judging our own writing skills.
3.) Be yourself
Don’t fall for the struggle, the excessive publicity, the competition. Be your own writer or content creator, just be consistent with your thing.
In closing, I would say that when writers write, they pour a piece of themselves into every piece they publish, overcoming and fighting all self-doubts, fears, and nervousness. If you cannot appreciate and appreciate the art, leave it to the creator.
Love and light
…………………………………………………………………………
