What if one simple habit – for as little as 5 minutes a day – could change your life? And what if that potential existed for everyone – not just for who we’ve come to believe are “real” writers? That’s the premise of Find Your Voice Founder Allison Fallon’s new book, The Power of Writing It Down, which released this month.
A regular writing practice, which can start out with something as simple as 5 minutes a day for 4 days in a row, can help you to get your thoughts down, sort through a decision-making process, alleviate anxiety, recognize patterns in your life that are causing you pain, tell a story, and communicate with people in your life who are important to you. Your writing can come in the form of a book project, a blog, an Instagram post, or even a note scribbled to yourself.
“It’s a form of self-therapy,” Allison said. “It’s a way that we can tell our stories to ourselves so that we can understand them better. It’s meditation. It’s a way to know what the real thoughts are that are playing in your mind over and over again. It’s prayer. It can be a note scribbled on a piece of paper on a cocktail napkin, like a little love note to yourself or a little prayer of desperation for something to change.”
The problem with writing traditionally has been the societal idea that writing is only reserved for some people: the educated, the elite, the naturally talented.
But the power of writing also stems from its ability to help us harness our own voices – to find them and use them to share our own unique message with the world. That power is in everyone. It’s a natural human instinct.
And unfortunately, the doubts we carry around our writing are often similar across the board – whether you’re “trained” as a writer or you’re picking up the pen for the first time to start a journal.
“People will say, ‘I could write that but nobody would ever read it,’ or ‘There’s someone else who’s already written that and they’ve done a better job than I’ve done,’ or ‘I just don’t really have the time,’ or ‘I don’t have a degree from some fancy university,’” Allison said. “I found this to be really tragic and also unjust – how many of us have something really important and valuable to contribute to the world through our words, and we talk ourselves out of the process of writing, because we think we aren’t ‘qualified’ to do it. My point in the book is there’s just no such thing as not being qualified to be a writer.”
The Power of Writing It Down gives anyone actionable steps to create a regular writing practice – from carving out space in your calendar, to carving out physical space from which to write, tips to avoid writer’s block, and prompts and exercises to help get the words flowing.
Once you get into the regular practice of writing, you’ll learn you have so much more to say than you thought. And most importantly – you’ll find your voice.
“Writing is about more than just the writing process,” Allison said. “Writing is about finding a way to show up as ourselves authentically in the world. So whether or not you feel that you have something you want to write, I want you to think about if you have something you want to say with your life.”
You can listen to Allison’s full podcast interview, where she talks more about inspiration for The Power of Writing It Down, actionable tips for daily writing, and what the original title was actually supposed to be HERE.
You can purchase The Power of Writing It Down wherever you buy books!
