After a long and eventful sophomore year of college, which is still not over, I have decided to get back to writing. I stopped writing for awhile because I just didn’t have the time anymore, but I have decided to come back for many reasons. To me, I believe that writing can be the best therapy. It helps express emotions and organize my thoughts, because otherwise, I’ll let it build up until I finally explode. I know many of us do this, but it does much more harm than good in the long run.

When extremely angry, writing a letter to the person you’re upset with can help release those emotions. You can write down every terrible and awful thing that you don’t really mean down about the person and the situation. I’ve done this plenty of times because it helps me not say things when seeing that person or dealing with that situation that I would later regret. We tend to rush into saying things that we don’t mean when in an argument, and this can really help in not saying those things. Following the golden rule, you always want to treat people how you would want to be treated. We can come up with all of the expletive names we want about a person, and they may sometimes be that way. However, you shouldn’t say them.

This is something I have been working on myself, because saying horrible things to someone might feel great in the moment. But, you always feel terrible about it later.

When you are sad, writing out those feelings can help. If you want, you can read it to the person who has caused the sadness. I tend to write out why I am upset and sad, but also write about things that makes me happy about that person. I have to remind myself why I care about that person, even if they have made me upset. I can’t always say what I want to on the spot, so instead, I write it all out so I can organize my thoughts.

Also, it is great to write something when you are happy too; something that you can go back and read when you are down. Maybe keep a journal or a diary to write down all of these things, or just have random documents on your computer with letters to people that you would never really send. Maybe go old-fashioned and write a letter to the person on paper. Sometimes it feels a lot more therapeutic to actually sit down and write than to sit down and type.

Any way you feel, when you feel like there is no one to talk to, you can always sit down and write. If you really want, you can read the letters to a really close friend so they know how you feel and can give you advice on how to deal with that situation. I have done this before, and it really helps. Writing can really organize your thoughts and emotions on a situation or a person, so to me, it is the best therapy at times when there is no one around to talk to. So, my best advice, get out there and write. See what happens!