Doing a Rewrite on Your Very Bad Day
Jan 30, 2024
12 Prompts to Inspire Change from the Power of Your Own Words
We all have bad days. Anything can trigger it. A tough day at work, an argument with your spouse, or simply a day that began without coffee.
But, if you’ve experienced a life-changing event like loss, divorce, or loss of a job, it knocks you to your knees. You thought it couldn’t happen to you, and then it did. Those are the moments that literally change the way you see life.
I had one of those life-changing events several years ago. My vibrant, healthy, very much alive 16-year-old son woke up with a fever and was dead the next morning. The sudden illness turned out to be a deadly form of bacterial meningitis. From life to death in 24 hours, that damn fast. I thought I could never survive.
Then a friend gave me an empty notebook, and said, “Write, just write.” The first blank page was so difficult. I could only put down one sentence, “My son died and my life will never be the same.”
The next day, I wrote a paragraph, and each day after that I found words erupted as the depth of my loss became more real. Writing became my well of sorrow, pouring tears of ink onto paper. And for a little while, I could let my emotions rest.
The process of writing is a natural demand on the brain that awakens the “feel good” hormones, refueling your spirit. This process is an important step in making peace with your past and, more importantly, reclaiming your future.
When you put your story on the page you become the observer… and then your mind can rest
The very nature of writing opens your mind and allows it to form words of emotion onto paper. And then… it releases them. When you put your story on the page you become the observer. It creates a distance from the struggle, and you see it from a new perspective. You begin to diffuse the hurt into a meaningful life lesson, and then you move forward.
“But, how can I? I’m not a writer,” you ask. It doesn’t matter There’s no magic secret. Just pick up a pen and begin with one word or sentence. Let your pen guide you by writing whatever comes to mind. Even if you write senseless phrases, it will trigger your mind, sending words to your pen. As it scratches the surface of the paper, your mind listens and looks for ways to make sense of what you’re struggling to convey.
James Pennebaker Ph.D. is a leading researcher on the benefits of writing, and he suggests, “By writing, you put some structure and organization to those anxious feelings. It helps you get past them.”
The miracle of writing is that it awakens the subconscious mind and allows a real and powerful connection between your thoughts and your reality
Writing daily or weekly provides a framework to track your resilience. You’ll uncover psychological patterns that held you back, and it becomes your living textbook for the healing process.
After a while, an amazing thing begins to happen. You see hope and a plan for your future rising up from the pages
You’ll discover new ways to hold yourself accountable and begin to trust yourself to make the right decisions. Someday, you’ll look back on it and be astonished at how far you’ve come.
You get to share the true you, but it’s also your secret world of words that can shape your dreams and desires for the future.
Writing is often the missing secret ingredient to attracting what you want in life
Bob Proctor, who teaches The Secret Behind the Law of Attraction says,
"Thoughts that are mixed with feelings or emotions constitute a magnetic force. So to attract what you want, your thoughts must be accompanied by deep feeling and desire."
When you try to convey your heart’s desires with a vision in your head or a vision board with magazine cutouts, it often misfires because it lacks the trigger of emotion to get the ignition started. When you write, you emote.
Choose writing as the tool to boldly proclaim your goals and script your dreams into reality. Watch how they come alive.
It’s a comfortable place to brag about your wins! People often forget to honor themselves for their achievements! Celebrate in big bold words within the pages of your journal. It’s a way of loving yourself.
Leave the words on the page and your experiences become your history… transformation is your future
Keep writing and you’ll discover transformation is inevitable for your future. All of it encompasses the Story of You. Just begin writing…
Here are some writing prompts to get started on this powerful transformational tool…
- Why are you worried today?
- What feels insurmountable?
- Who or what are you missing today?
- Why does your heart hurt?
- What step should you take today, in order to change tomorrow?
- What do you love about your job?
- What do you hate about your job?
- If your job could be made better by just doing this one thing…what would it be?
- What are your “wins” in this past day, week, month… year? Are they more or less than you thought?
- What are you really good at that you no longer do? Do you miss it?
- What if your life could be so much better by changing this one thing about yourself, what would it be?
- Write a vision for tomorrow. Just tomorrow. What does that look like? Does it feel good?
Steve Jobs said,
“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I’m about to do today? And whenever the answer has been, ‘no’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
If you knew you could change something by writing just 10 minutes a day… would you do it? Just pick up a pen.
I discovered a whole new life waiting for me within the power of my own words
Writing restored me. It lifted me out of the depths of despair and held me accountable for the next part of my life. I began writing to heal the sorrow of my child, but I discovered a whole new life waiting for me within the power of my own words.
Remember, there isn’t one of us who hasn’t had a life without tough times and bad days. It’s the blending of those experiences that creates the narrative of our lives.
It’s your life, your story, your legacy… you get to write how it ends.
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