We all have bad experiences, whether they come out of the blue or you’ve watched them brewing for a while, they’re not nice to go through. For me at least, I play back different scenarios in my mind which, in truth, doesn’t really help. One thing I found helps is writing it down.
I found writing it down beneficial for a few reasons…
Remembering what happened – an obvious but important one. Our memories can change over time, writing down while it’s fresh preserves the accurate details.
Stop the blur – emotions can get the better of us and often prevent our clarity of thought. Writing forces you to detail what happened, putting some distance between your thoughts and any strong emotions.
Taking an objective view – it can be challenging, particularly when the situation is recent, but try to be honest with yourself. As you’re writing down your thoughts, be as objective as you can. This process isn’t about taking sides, it’s about reasoning with the potentially layers of the situation. This pragmatic approach encourages taking a step back that often reveals insights you hadn’t noticed before.
Learning opportunities – following on from being honest, what can you take away from the challenge? It might be being able to identify similar situations to prevent them from happening again. Or, handling them differently should another challenge resurface. Documenting can make these discoveries more clearer.
Positive takeaways – always look on the brightside, right? While documenting, highlight the parts you’re proud of. What did you do well that you want to remember? We often dwell on negatives so flips that thinking in your favour.
Getting closure – continuously thinking about the situation doesn’t reduce stress or put the difficult experience to bed. The process of writing down helps to release stress in your body.
Consider next steps – with more of your thoughts written down than swirling around your mind it gives more space to think about what next. Depending on the situation, maybe there’s a conversation to be had, or potentially a new future direction is on the horizon.
Bad experiences can knock your confidence and even reignite any imposter syndrome that might be waiting in the background. In order to bounce back (or even bounce forward), we need to let go of the past and look ahead. Writing down your thoughts, feelings, the good, the bad, helps to chalk off the bad experience and look to the journey ahead of you.
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