Writing as Exercise
Keep reading to see why you should start looking at writing as exercise, then leave a comment to join this dialogue. And don’t forget to check out today’s writing prompt at the bottom of the post.
We often think of ourselves as completing writing projects and writing exercises instead of appreciating how the practice of writing itself is exercise for our minds, bodies, souls, and creative muscles. Instead of focusing on the writing process itself, in other words, we’re focusing on things like producing specific word counts, page counts, keywords, and tidy publishable drafts as we write, mostly ignoring everything else that happens as we write, which includes all the benefits the writing process itself offers us.
But what if we start looking at writing as exercise— exercise we need to keep our minds, bodies, souls, and creative muscles healthy and robust? And how without it, our minds, bodies, souls, and creative muscles begin to atrophy.
Let’s start with the obvious benefits of writing on the mind. Writing boosts memory and learning, our ability to focus and pay attention, and our ability to think critically. Writing by hand is even linked to improved brain development in children and warding off cognitive decline in the elderly, as it is proven to improve the overall structure and functioning of the physical brain and how it’s wired, particularly as it learns new things and ages.
Writing is also “intricately linked to perceptual, motor, and cognitive functions, providing a rich substrate for the expression of thoughts and emotions” according to a recent study published in the National Library of Medicine’s database. Which means that writing also helps us become better aware of our thoughts and feelings so that we can better understand and regulate those thoughts and feelings in order to express them authentically, and vice versa. And such emotional regulation, which the writing process provides, is linked to decreased anxiety and stress in the physical body when executed regularly. Consider the mental and physical health benefits of journaling, for example.
Beyond journaling, however, the act of writing itself reduces stress and anxiety in the physical body (see above), especially when writers reach a state of flow as they write, which releases dopamine in the brain and other parts of the physical body, physically activating continued focus, pleasure, and emotional regulation. All experienced writers can attest to how calming and rewarding it is when they’re writing and the words just seem to fall onto the page in front of them out of nowhere, when they enter that much coveted state of flow and learn how to do so on a regular basis via their routine practice of writing. (This is why I keep a daily writing routine, and why I recommend other writers do the same— it’s the best way to continually enter the flow state when writing.)
Some writers may extol the Muses for those flow states they enter when they’re writing, but it is truly nothing more than a physically balanced connection between the brain and body, which sounds a bit less romantic in the moment, but is ultimately more poetic and practical in the end. If you want to feel calmer and more attuned to the world around you— in order to write better poetry, for example— you must regularly and intentionally write so that you can learn how to harness a state of flow when writing that poetry. Then it will begin to feel as if what you write is meaningful and authentic, as if it is a true expression of your mind, body, and soul.
While there is obviously less scientific evidence touting the benefits of writing for the human soul, we can take what we do know about writing and the beneficial effects it has on the human mind and body, and their ultimate alignment, to infer that the very ‘soul’ or essence of deeply beautiful and authentic human writing itself relies on this alignment of the human mind and body. Because it isn’t until we are free from anxiety and its physical manifestations in our bodies that we will be able to focus our minds on creatively and authentically expressing ourselves via beautiful prose and poems that are full of bits of our inner-most authentic selves, our souls— on writing those things that only we, as authentic individuals tapping into our deepest individual selves (souls), will ever be capable of writing.
Writer’s block, simply put, is nothing more than a state of anxiety that is harming your creativity, and your potential to tap into your ability to express yourself via uninhibited, authentic writing that can only happen when you are in a state of flow as you write. No?
All this to say: If we start looking at writing itself as exercise for our minds, bodies, and souls, we will not make excuses or procrastinate when our creative muscles begin to atrophy, or when we encounter writer’s block. Instead, we will insist on continuing the practice of writing so that we can routinely enter the state of flow when writing, which will allow us to better and more authentically express ourselves via our writing.
You wouldn’t expect an Olympic athlete to compete without first conditioning their mind and body through routine practice and training. In the same sense, you cannot expect a writer to write anything authentic (something that stands out from everything else that’s written solely because they wrote it) if they don’t condition their minds and bodies to write authentically via routine practice and training, especially not on a regular basis.
[I might add more to this post in the future. Stay tuned!]
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Today’s Writing Prompt
Writing Prompt: Free Write, Nature
Set a timer for ten minutes. Once you start the timer, start free writing about nature, any part of nature, and why it's important to you or what you love about it. Write about whatever comes to your mind as soon as it comes to your mind, and don't overthink what you're writing about. Don't stop writing until the timer goes off. And feel free to repeat this free writing exercise for any topic in the future, especially when you find yourself stuck or needing a bit of creative inspiration.
Be sure to share what you write for any of the daily writing prompts in a subscriber chat thread so we can read and discuss what you wrote.
