Diane Hartingh Price - Write Your Stress Away: Tame the Tension in Your Life

Write Your Stress Away

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Price, Diane Hartingh, 1949 author. | McCollum, Susan Ives, 1946 author.

Title: Write your stress away : tame the tension in your life / Diane Hartingh Price and Susan Ives McCollum.

Description: Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018060859 (print) | LCCN 2019000427 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538117996 (electronic) | ISBN 9781538117989 (cloth : alk. paper)

Subjects: Stress (Psychology) | Emotions. | Self-actualization (Psychology) | Stress management.

Classification: LCC BF575.S75 (ebook) | LCC BF575.S75 P745 2019 (print) | DDC 155.9/042dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018060859

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

For all people in the world, may they find peace,
wellness, and healing from stress. Write on!

How Writing Changed Our Lives

Our story begins with two young women pushing baby strollers up and down the hills of our neighborhood. On our daily walks, our conversation often drifted toward our shared passion for writing, health, and well-being. This led to a lasting friendship based on our common interests in nutrition and exercise, foundations for good health. Fast forward twenty years later when we each were diagnosed with a life-threatening diseaseSue with type 1 diabetes and Diane with breast cancer. In that moment, life changed drastically for both of us. Diane had surgeries and treatment options to make decisions about, side effects to research, insurance calls to make, and a long list of dietary and exercise recommendations to consider. Sue had to learn how to manage a new lifestyle that demanded healthy eating, regular exercise, and close monitoring of blood glucose. We both felt threatened by our diseases, knowing they would change our lives forever. As dramatic as it sounds, this was our new reality!

Although our paths took us in different directions, we both relied on our journal writing to get us through the challenging period after our diagnoses and the stress associated with huge lifestyle changes. When we finally had time to share our experiences, we were struck by how writing had been the lifeline wed clutched to as we managed our stress through each phase of our healing. We agreed that writing brought us new clarity when we were faced with decisions, reinforced what really mattered most, and offered us a release valve in those moments when we were emotionally overwhelmed.

It became clear that writing was a powerful healing tool for us. Why not introduce it to others as a method to manage stress and implement healthy lifestyle changes? We began sifting through all the research and anecdotal evidence to confirm our belief that writing heals. Our decision to write this book grew out of that research and was again reinforced when we took a writing course at Duke Integrative Medicine together. It was called Leading Patients in Writing for Health, based on the research and findings of James W. Pennebaker, PhD, and John F. Evans, EdD. Afterward, we sat down and developed a simple writing system based on our experiences and supported by research, using writing to diminish stress and heal mind, body, and spirit. We found, to our great satisfaction, that friends, family, and clients who tried our writing method loved itand the results it brought. The Write to Be Well method was born out of our personal and professional experiences with writing! But before we go any further, heres a little background on the two of us and how weve used writing to sort out lifes challenges.

Writing things down became a way of life for me at a young age. I was raised in a stiff-upper-lip family where I learned to do whatever needed to be done, sometimes at a high emotional cost. Reflecting on those days, I remember scribbling down my feelings in childish scrawl and then hiding the paper in my little pink suitcase. Little did I know what a gift of healing that would one day become!

Journal writing became a mainstay for me, and I reached for pen and paper intuitively as I navigated through the churning emotional waters of my young life. Wherever I was on the spectrum of life and health, I turned to writing to get in touch with my emotions. Once done, I could always find the clarity to discover what I needed for self-healing.

While on a business trip, I found a lump in my left breast only a few months after a mammogram had told me all is fine. Stunned, I sat on the plane home and, with shaking fingers, wrote down all my thoughts. Instinctively, I knew that something was very wrong. As I proceeded through the medical tests and doctors appointments, I insisted on having a biopsy immediately rather than waiting another six months. This was my life, and I was ready to fight for it!

Throughout those days and weeks, I wrote daily, often several times a day. Just doing so helped me uncover the emotions that caused me to feel like a victim. Instead, I began to focus on becoming a self-advocate. When the biopsy indeed revealed malignancy requiring surgery and chemotherapy, my doctor later remarked that writing had probably saved my life!

In retrospect, though, I believe it was more than that. By writing about what mattered to me in the form of powerful affirmations, I was inspired to live life fully. My affirmation, I live a healthy life, seeing my grandchildren grow well into adulthood, continues to be a beacon for my future each day. As I tackle new changes and evolve by doing so, I continue repeating this pattern of writing: I tell my story, affirm what matters, design a plan and commit to action, and reflect on what Ive learned. Its how I successfully manage stress and forge ahead through whatever life throws in my path.