A Line a Day Takes The Stress Away

“Nulla Dies Sine Linea; Never a Day Without a Line” – Don Murray. Photo taken by Megan Patiry (Me) at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus.

Etched into the stones of the sidewalk of the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg Campus media studies courtyard are various quotes like the one pictured above. I will admit once I saw the first stone etching, I had to continue around the courtyard in order to read the rest and satisfy my curiosity. “Nulla dies sine linea; never a day without a line,” is a latin proverb on perseverance in one’s art or writing. It caught my eye due to the fact that I have made a habit out of writing at least a paragraph a day: even if it’s all that I can manage before my bed turns into an inescapable sinkhole. Writing has always been a part of who I am, but it turns out that it can be taken (for anyone) from just a hobby or one’s career and turned into a form of therapy, especially for students.

College students typically carry a considerable amount of stress on their shoulders. Not only are university courses demanding, but they are also juggling with part-time jobs and living away from parents for the first time. Commonly, students have a hard time finding a positive outlet for such heavy stressors and may pursue drugs, alcohol, or other promiscuous behaviors as a form of escape. However, the relief is a temporary fix to a problem that can escalate from the psychological to the physical: anxiety, localized pains and headaches are all ailments common to individuals who are depressed or overly stressed. Add in a touch of mental exhaustion and you have a recipe for severe depression which, according to the American Psychiatric Association, one in four people experience before the age of 24. The rising stress levels seen in students by college counselors and student advisors has developed a need for disclosure – revealing one’s thoughts, experiences, and fears to someone else in order to “take a load off their shoulders.”

In his essay “Putting Stress Into Words: Health, linguistic, and therapeutic implications,” James Pennebaker, social psychologist and chair of the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas,  states,

“When individuals are asked to write or talk about personally upsetting experiences, significant improvements in physical health are found…independent of verbal emotion expression, the increasing use of insight, causal, and associated cognitive words over several days of writing is linked to health improvement. That is, the construction of a coherent story together with the expression of negative emotions work together in therapeutic writing.”

Simply put, writing is proving to be even more effective at reducing stress than verbally expressing our thoughts. Pennebaker also found that the more negative words and sentence structures present in a writing disclosure therapy, the better the results for the individual. This is due to the release of the stress into the writing; the more you express onto the paper, the more relieved you will feel. This is one of the reasons why many of us who have Facebook and Twitter accounts sometimes feel relieved after posting a lengthy status update about how stressful our day was; it acts as a form of disclosure through writing in which other people will invariably “listen” through likes and comments.

To show just how effective this daily writing habit can be at improving one’s health, scientists and even medical professionals are now delving into the possibility of using writing as a therapy for physical ailments as well as mental. Mind-body specialists, as they’re called, use the idea that emotions can be a serious trigger for all kinds of pain the body experiences.

“Regular writing about these topics changes the nerve pathways that carry the pain signals from your back (or neck or shoulders) to your brain and diminishes the pain signals over time.” Dr. John Stracks, mind-body specialist, Northwestern.

Since most individuals, especially students, are reluctant to meet with mental health professionals, disclosure in the form of writing gives students a tool for release without having to engage in therapy sessions with a counselor. Old fashioned journaling, online journaling, and even listing your stressors and choosing one to write about daily for 10 to 15 minutes can provide significant mental health improvements, according to “Write to Ease Your Pain,” by Julie Deardorff for the Chicago Tribune.

Although relief can be felt rather quickly through writing disclosure, it is important to remember that it is a process; one that is developed and crafted with time. Consider it a story of your stresses; one you would like to remove from yourself and share with your journal over the course of weeks, months, and even daily throughout your life. “Nulla dies sine linea,” a proverb that shows us the power of perseverance is now also packing a punch against stress.