Write Now: On Writing During Difficult Times

Imagine if Anne Frank had decided she had nothing important to write.

Imagine the tremendous loss to the world if Anne Frank had sat in her small bedroom in the secret annex and thought to herself, “Why should I bother to write in my diary? There are too many problems in the world, mine aren’t important enough to write about.”

Thankfully, Anne didn’t stop herself. She kept writing.

Last fall, I started re-reading Diary of a Young Girl for the first time since childhood. We were going to Amsterdam, where we would visit the Anne Frank House, in late November.

Re-reading her diary as an adult, I was struck by how relatable her writing was. Yes, sometimes she wrote about what was happening to Jews and in the world. But mostly she wrote about her day-to-day life - her activities, her problems, her small grievances.

I think that relatability is a big reason her diary is so powerful and beloved, all these decades later. She was just an ordinary teenager in an extraordinary situation, writing (with remarkable talent) about her life.

Scenes from Amsterdam and the Anne Frank House

During difficult historic times (like now!) it might feel as if there’s too much going on to bother writing. As if the problems in the world are too big for our small voices to matter. As if what we have to say isn’t important enough. We may feel guilty for doing something that seems frivolous, when there are so many problems we should be trying to fix.

But I’m here to say that your voice is important, and if you have a creative urge to write, now is exactly the time to do it.

I’ve been taking a writing class for almost a year. It isn’t the most practical thing I’ve ever done, and it’s time-consuming work. It’s also helping me prioritize time to be creative, and it feels like it’s saving my soul. If you’re someone who enjoys writing or otherwise creating, I hope you are prioritizing it, too. If not, maybe you could give yourself permission to start.

Here are a few reasons why writing matters right now:

• Writing can help us process what we are going through. There is plenty of psychology research that demonstrates the healing powers of writing about difficult life experiences. When we write about our experiences, exploring our thoughts and emotions, we can understand ourselves better, and get much-needed perspective-taking. As a therapist, I know for certain that the stress of the world has been impacting people lately. The process of writing can help us feel grounded as we navigate these hard times.

• Creativity is important for mental health and wellbeing. Art in general is a core element of being human. Creating feels life-affirming, and keeps us in touch with our humanity. If our humanity is gone, the “bad guys” out there have won. They’ve beaten us down. We need to care for ourselves and sustain ourselves during stressful times, and writing can help.

• Writing, creating art, and using our voices are forms of resistance. In the powerful words of Audre Lorde: “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Even if you don’t share your writing with anyone, simply putting your experience into writing can feel like a form of hopeful action.

• Writing is a way of bearing witness. It can help us seeing things clearly, with eyes wide open. It helps us contact the truth, and to reflect on important things that are happening. Our words can help us pay attention, and stay in contact with reality. In a world where reality is often distorted and feels confusing, this is more essential than ever. The world needs the truth-tellers to bear witness and keep a record.

• Some day in the future, you might want to remember these times. You may or may not keep your journals. If you tend to keep them, like I do, you are creating a record of your experience. A snapshot of what your life was like during this time. Decades from now, things will be different than they are now, in ways we can’t predict or imagine. You might struggle to remember what it was like, and want to re-read what you wrote as historic events were unfolding. Perhaps a grandchild will ask what it was like. Or perhaps you’ll forget, and a small detail you wrote will remind you. Believe it or not, you might want to remember this, even the difficult moments. Perhaps especially the difficult moments.

• Your writing might spark a creative idea. Most of us aren’t trying to be Anne Frank. Our journals, if we even keep them, will probably not be read for decades to come, by people all around the world. (In fact, I truly hope no one ever reads the self-absorbed drivel I write in my journals! That would be extremely embarrassing!) But sometimes we write and write and then something interesting emerges, unexpectedly. You never know when a line you jot in your journal might spark a creative idea. And you never know where your writing might lead you. If you are writing to put something out in the world, or even just with the possibility that someday you might, you must keep those words flowing.

And so… write on, my friends!

NOTE: This essay is cross-posted and slightly revised from an essay I previously published here.

Debbie Sorensen, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist. You can find my books ACT for Burnout and ACT Daily Journal on amazon and bookshop.org. You can listen to my podcast, Psychologists Off the Clock, here or on all the major podcast players.