Writing as my tool to cope
I didn’t write for a year.
Okay, that’s a lie. I did try to write my weekly email to my community about writing when you have to deal with chronic illness on a daily basis. I’ve been writing it for years and I wanted to keep that up, but it was a weekly struggle.
I thought I’d never feel truly inspired to write again. I truly didn’t.
Thank heavens I was wrong. Oh, so wrong.
What changed?
Going from dreading it to desiring it.
My Choice
It wasn’t a process. It was a choice.
I sat down and forced myself to write. At first the words refused to come. But slowly, my voice came back and now the words flow easily again.
One email a week on writing with chronic illness.
One or two pieces on Substack.
Two books currently in draft mode, one fiction, one non-fiction.
The words are coming again, because I realised my way to make sense of the world is through writing.
And the more I typed, the better I felt. I truly believe the two are connected.
Like I’m writing this to you as I’m lying on my sofa in a moment of deep anxiety about my health and with the pain that a severe migraine brings. Yet I write.
Is it comfortable? God, no. Do I need it? Hell yeah.
I don’t advise you to write when you are in pain. It does actually make it worse. But writing is my way to make sense of this life of illness and of pain.
If you are reading this, I know words are your way of making sense of the world too, whether you write or read.
Words are always there for us to help form the language of our daily experience. Of our pain and our exhilaration.
Writing is my tool to cope, to process, to heal. But also to share, connect and support.
How is writing your tool, whether as a writer or as a reader?
Leave a comment. I’d love to hear!
Sandra Postma
Posted on 10 September 2025 on Substack
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