A New Understanding: Processing Grief through Writing
"Being able to reflect on a loss through writing may allow you a safe and healthy way to process and adjust to your grief journey." Throughout my life, I have always been a journaler. Once or twice a day in high school and college, I would open my journal and take stock of my day. Random musings, snippets of poetry, or the play-by-play of daily events may come up. But most importantly, this world of written words was my space to reflect on complex emotions, even those I could not fully explain or understand. Within grief, we may find it hard to verbalize everything we're experiencing. There may be times when writing something down-something you can come back to and reflect on-can be just as helpful as talking to someone about it. Experts in the field of writing and writing theory suggest that the act of writing can allow the writer to produce new ideas and increase awareness. According to the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, "to narrate is to reflect on events and, in t