Uncover Your Wisdom and Strength Through Writing
One night while watching cisplatin, a type of chemotherapy, drip, drip, drip into my daughter’s vein, I almost collapsed. My fourteen-year-old daughter Elizabeth had endured five rounds of intensive chemotherapy in only four months, treatments needed to arrest rapidly growing bone tumors in her femur and lungs. While I willed myself to stay strong during the days so I could be steady for my daughter, exhaustion hit me by night. After spending months in the hospital during the day and the night, not only was my energy drained amidst this crisis, my emotional resiliency had become brittle and cracked.
To go on, I had to harness what little strength was left within. I drew upon one whisper of me that remained—an almost extinguished voice that emerged when I began to write. I wrote of my fears; I wrote of my hopes; I wrote in the predawn light; I wrote at night. Writing allowed me to express what I didn’t want to speak of aloud; it released burdening thoughts trapped inside and brought them into the daylight.
And after my daughter died, the process of writing was like having a companion by my side. By writing daily during my years of grieving, I was able to express fears that were swirling inside me. Writing helped me to untangled thoughts that were destabilizing. Writing helped to unfurl bound up grief. And slowly, over many years, I changed from a mother in a maelstrom of grief to a woman who could express flickers of hope for the future.
If you have a life story to tell, if you’ve faced unexpected hurdles or events that have swept you into a torrent of grief, reach for your pen (or keyboard) and write. You’ll not only be able to give voice to your deepest fears, you’ll uncover previously unimaginable wisdom and strength that lies beneath.