I was talking with someone recently who was despondent because she felt her writing no longer held meaning in light of what was happening in the world around us. I understand how someone might feel like that. We’re not on the front lines. We’re not putting our lives at risk sitting in front of a blank page. It’s an easy assumption to make, but an erroneous one.
The problem with this sentiment is perspective.
While it’s true we are not saving lives on the front line of this pandemic, or working tirelessly to transport food and toilet paper to scared people holed up at home, or dealing with trying to save a flailing economy, we do have a place, as writers, in this turbulent time. An important place. But a place that is easy to dismiss as frivolous or call it fluffy or denigrate it, especially in troubling times.
But writing is essential. In fact, I would argue the act of writing is even more important now than ever.
It’s writing that allows us escape the news for a while and dive into a great book, or marathon a television series, or binge on superhero movies. It’s writing that will capture this moment in time, preserving it for future generations. It is writing that will help us understand and move forward.
Writing is no less important to the health and wellbeing of people as medicine. Reading and writing is how we work through tragedy and struggle. It is how we escape stress and fear. It is how we relate to one another and the emotions threatening to engulf us.
As C.S. Lewis said, “We read to know we are not alone.” I think we write that way too.
Here are a few ways writing proves itself essential and worthy, in case you are feeling lost in your work and unimportant:
Writing Provides a Haven
COVID-19 is stressful. The fear of infection, the isolation from loved ones, the loss of income and security. It weighs heavily on us all. Reading or watching television or playing a game, lets us escape that stress for a while. We have writers to thank for creating those havens for us—writers who thought up characters who keep us glued to the couch episode after episode and who keep us up late into the night turning page after page. The words they put down on a page offers us a place to go when we need to set aside our troubles and focus on a different world. Those worlds wouldn’t exist without the writer.
Writing Captures the Truth
Writing is how we preserve what happens in the world. It is how we record history so no one forgets. Five thousand years ago, in the time of the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, humans recorded their lives in writing. Cave paintings as old as 19,000 years ago told stories of hunts and peoples. These written records is how we learn who are ancestors were and how they dealt with the world. Reading journals and letters is how we glimpsed what life was like for a Jewish girl hidden away during World War II and what lived in Helen Keller’s brilliant mind. Writing and reading is how we understand events and put them in perspective. Writers capture time and preserve it and its lessons.
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.” Anne Frank
“Write what should not be forgotten.” Isabel Allende
Writing Gives Hope
Memoirs of those who have faced tragedies and survived give us courage to keep fighting. They show us we can survive too. Their words makes life less scary.
Writing Honors Those Who’ve Gone Before
Biographies and history books inspire us with tales of bravery and sacrifice. They honor those who perish for others and who inspired us with their lives.
Writing Makes Us Laugh
No one can sustain fear and worry without eventually breaking. Reading something light gives us a break from the doom and gloom and lets our bodies and minds recover from the heaviness we feel. Writing, in all its forms, helps us laugh in times we are more apt to cry. Reading relieves the burden for a while.
Writing Helps Us Understand
Writing helps us tap into our emotions and understand what we feel and who we are. It reveals the depths of what is happening beyond the events. It exposes our humanity, motivations and responses. Whether writing a journal, a manuscript, a screenplay, or reading a novel, story and characters act as mirrors for deeper selves. It reveals us and the world we live in.
Writing Gives Us Purpose
Writing shows the way. It lets us see how others have acted and lets us see the path forward. It reveals our inner desires. It explores our emotions and ideas and illuminates our motivation. It gives us a reason to step away from the news and dig a little deeper.
Writing Is Therapeutic
Writing is a form of therapy. A way to share our fears, worries, thoughts and ideas onto the page. It lessens our burdens. Writing it out clears our minds for more. It also keeps our minds active, which is essential when isolation has curtailed the input into our imagination and brains.
“You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.”
Ray Bradbury, Zen in the Art of Writing
Writing Preserves
Writing is a way to preserve our memories of this time, of what we observe and of those we’ve lost. It captures moments in history. It turns our emotions and ideas into creative and permanent forms. Writing remembers.
Writing Connects Us
Writing connects us emotionally. Whether in fiction or creative nonfiction form, words help us bridge the gaps between us so we can enjoy a shared experience. It reveals compassion and shows what it is to be human.
Writing is powerful. It matters. So keep writing, no matter how hard it may be, no matter how distracted or down you may feel. Journal. Work on your novel or screenplay. Draft a poem or lyrics to a song. Pour your emotions onto the page.
If your current work doesn’t feel important anymore, try changing your perspective. What role might your work have for your reader during a time of trouble? Does it provide escape, inspiration, a record of what is happening, comfort?
All writing is important, whether it is personal or for others. Don’t let arbitrary ideas of value keep you from your work. Writing has a place and purpose for you and your readers. So pick up that pen or sidle up to your keyboard and start writing.