Why bother writing?

What makes a person try writing?

What makes it worth it?

Is there any use in it?

These are questions many people, myself included, ask or have asked in the past. There are many possible reasons, so I am going to go through all the ones I can think of.

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What makes a person try writing?

People may try in order to express themselves, mainly through journaling. I started with journaling. When I realized it was somewhat poetic, I decided to try my hand (pun intended) at poetry. I was in love immediately. Sometimes people are just forced to attempt due to tasks such as school assignments. People may learn then if they love, like, or dislike writing. I learned in ninth grade that I don't like writing short stories, but I learned I kind of liked writing poems. I just did not like sharing them at all at the time.

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What makes it worth it?

When I write anything, whether I am sharing it or not, I feel a sense of accomplishment. As someone with bipolar disorder, which includes depressive episodes, I often struggle with motivation to do anything at all. This sometimes includes showering or even getting out of bed. Getting the feedback that I receive helps a lot. When you surround yourself with positive people (like I try to), you get positive feedback and constructive criticism, rather than just, "You did bad," or something along those lines.

Sometimes, my writing helps people to not feel alone. As an empathetic person, that feeling makes any work I put into writing completely worthy of my time, not that it is valuable at the moment anyway.

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Is there any use in it?

For some people, yes. For others, not at all.

For me personally, it is the best coping skill I have ever come across. In all honesty, I wish I realized how much it helps me sooner. Maybe if I had known, I would not have fallen into some of the bad habits I have now. I write every single day, no matter what my schedule looks like.

Writing also helps me to remember what I feel between therapy sessions.

I know, pencils and paper are very outdated but I will always value writing on paper more than anything.

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Thank you if you read my journal entry type of article.