Seven Great Reasons To Start Writing
"My memory is certainly in my hands. I can remember things only if I have a pencil and I can write with it and I can play with it ... I think your hand concentrates for you. I don't know why it should be so". — Rebecca West
I have always enjoyed making lists and writing things down, which is an excellent habit when you get older. Without a list, I probably wouldn't remember half of what I wanted at the grocery store.
Below are seven great reasons the older generation might want to pick up a pen and notebook and get writi
1. Writing lists is an easy way to keep track of so many things. Jotting down the things you need from the store. What about a bucket list or maybe a list of things you want to accomplish this year? There are endless ideas for lists you might want to make.
2. There are health benefits to writing. Who knew? But yes, indeed, writing can lessen your stress and improve your cognitive function and your memory. The act of writing things down on paper boosts your memory. Journaling your thoughts and feelings and all that might be happening can help relieve stress. Give it a try.
3. Writing is an excellent way of leaving your memories and family history for the younger generation. Bring alive your family history by writing fond memories of your siblings and holidays when you were a child. Describe your family home and what life was like growing up. Think of it as the historical facts of your family. Each generation is always left wondering about the past generations. As each generation dies, so dies that history never to be told. You can go a bit further and assemble photo albums with, of course, names and dates of family members. Nothing worse than family photos with no names and dates.
4. Writing can make a great hobby. Maybe some short stories or poems? No, you don't have to publish them, but you can. Look at writing as something creative you can do. Write down all your favorite recipes and pass them on to your children and grandchildren. Writing a detailed family history could become a full-time job. The sky is the limit when it comes to the ideas you might come up with.
5. Journaling can be good for the soul and a way to record your days, what you did, and how you felt. I remember my grandmother kept sort of a journal. I wish I knew what happened to it. She wrote about who visited their summer home and when. I don't remember much about it, but I remember, as a young teenager thinking it was cool that she did that. It can be fun and informative for family reading it years later.
6. Writing letters is a fun way to surprise friends and family. Handwritten letters and notes are a dying art. Send someone a letter, and you might get one in return. Don't let the art of letter writing die.
7. Put your mind at ease at the end of each day by writing down little things that are on your mind. If you do a little problem-solving at the end of the day, maybe you won't wake up in the middle of the night with those crazy random thoughts that like to keep us awake. Most of those thoughts don't amount to much anyway. I always wonder why they popped into my mind and kept me awake.
"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."- Joan Didion
So what's stopping you from picking up a pen and opening a journal?
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