How writing about your feelings can help you & others

I started writing when I was halfway through high school, so around year nine. I started writing in journals I brought but others decide to call them diaries. I would just write about how my day went and how I felt and basically what was on my mind that day. It was like a release for me to get everything off my mind that was bugging me. I didn’t tell anyone about it because I thought at the time everyone would laugh at me but I was so wrong! Nearly all my friends kept a journal, scrapbook or diary. There are so many types of ways to release those worries that are stressing you out.

When I got to year 11, that’s when the stress started to really get to me because of the exams that were coming up. This made me think about what I actually wanted to do with my life as it’s a massive step in your life! 

With all those worries on my mind, I needed a way to relax and get my head around what was about to come in my life. That’s when I researched ways of letting those thoughts be free and I came across this website where I could anonymously submit blog posts. Before submitting my posts I had to read through what others had written about so I could get an idea of how to word my submissions. 
Others were writing about how they started to see a counsellor in school so if they felt like they were about to have a breakdown or something had upset them they could go straight to their counsellor at any time just to let off steam! 

My first blog post was about how I started to distance myself from my friends. I stopped going out with them I just stayed at home in my bedroom isolating myself. I explained in the blog post how it felt like I was punishing myself for feeling so worthless. As it was submitted anonymously I had no one reach out to me about it and at the time I felt that was the best way to do it but now I look back and think no it wasn’t at all! I should have realised that I should have got help for the way I was feeling keeping it all locked up inside wasn’t healthy at all and that’s what drove me to become ill. 

I stopped posting for a while as it became too much for me to keep up with and soon I forgot about the whole submitting my thoughts etc. But that’s when I discovered Youtube! I started to talk about my thoughts on the camera and not anonymously. It made me feel like I was finally opening up about what was going on in my life and that it was okay to open up. 
I didn’t expect so many people to watch my videos I started to do and they were replying to how they were going through the same situation but then telling me how they dealt with the situation and how maybe that could help me, which in some cases they did! 
One of the replies I got on one of my videos was from the head of Teenagers with Experience, Emily. She said she wanted me to talk to me about sharing my experiences online as part of her team. Emily wanted me to become a writer for her team and I thought why not! As it’s been years since I stopped writing about my feelings I thought it was about time to return to what I used to love doing but to also help others out too.

So right now I’m currently doing what I love but it’s also shown me how it helps improve my mental health as I can just open up a google document and just write away my thoughts and feelings almost like a journal. 

Maybe you could be apart of our writing team. What experiences have you got to share? Let us know! - Mel

​