A few days ago a friend fell off a ladder while picking oranges. She broke eight ribs and punctured her lung. Yesterday my neighbor backed out of her driveway and into my car. Life is filled with challenges! One way to help navigate them is with our personal writing.

If you still harbor images of English teachers slashing red marks on your papers, work to erase them. Personal writing can be done privately. It can be shredded, burned, or locked up if it needs to be private. You can do it on a computer, in a notebook, or scribble notes on a napkin! When it is private, it can be messy and even unedited. But you may want to polish and perhaps share your words with others — and you can! You can share your words with a family member or friends. Blogs work if you want to find your public voice and publish your thoughts for others to read.

Now why should you do this? Here is what is most important. Our written words help us understand who we are. These words become our stories. Our stories define us. Create us. If you give your writing a chance, it can serve as a mirror into your soul and give you powerful insights into who you are — and who you can become. It did this for me. It can do this for you, too.

Yep. Personal writing can help you find out more about yourself and even allow you to recreate how you see yourself or who you are. It is well worth the journey.

If you are new to this, begin with five minutes of writing. Ask yourself, “What is my challenge today?” Then write. Try it. Let me know how it goes.

(The Story You Need to Tell by Sandra Marinella)