Once upon a Sunday at church, I was on duty teaching my eight
and nine-year-old class. I cannot remember exactly what the topic was, but I
remember asking if they had ever been hurt by mummy or daddy. Most of them chorused
“all the time”. Next, I asked if mummy and daddy eventually apologised and
received another chorus of “no”. Ouch!
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| Picture sourced from writeathon.ca |
This is not a post about what parents do that hurt us but
about how we deal with hurt irrespective of who hurts us. No doubt, many of us
have our unique way of dealing with issues. Some get confrontational
immediately. Others would stay away until they believe they can once again
resume their relationships or communications on a normal level with those who hurt
them. Others, yet, will bottle it away and carry on as if it never happened,
etc.
I am not a psychologist, but many years ago, I discovered how
to channel my pain away from me through writing and once the words pour out, I feel
better. I also started using writing to communicate my feelings when I have
been hurt by someone. Since I couldn’t confront, or stay away and bottling up
would definitely drive me nuts, writing a simple letter was perfect.
Pouring out one’s heart is really important. I never kept a diary
but I agree with the life coaches out there, who recommend journaling as a
therapy. And thankfully, it is never too late to start.
Everyone has a story. Everyone has gone through painful
emotions and is going through one issue or the other; some serious, others not
so much. Just writing to explain how your day went or how bored you are is a
good exercise. If you haven’t tried it, why not give it a shot? You don’t need
to be an amazing writer. Just put pen to paper and scribble aimlessly to
release tension. Sit before your laptop and vent. However it comes out is perfectly
fine. Why bottle up if you can channel it somewhere? At the end of the day,
when you read what came out of you, you might pick lessons from it; ideas can
drop about how to handle certain issues; it can be a good lesson or inspiration
for somebody else. You never know. Just try your hands at it.
And while we are on this, if you have children, encourage
them regularly to write about how their day went, or about their friends (just
make up a topic). One benefit of this is that it helps to improve their skills in
composition.