Write Your Stress Away

Book excerpt: Stress, whether an unconscious undercurrent in your life or a rampage of emotions, can make you sick if you don’t manage it. You want to tame the tension in your life, but you don’t know how. Write Your Stress Away is the place to start. The book introduces you to the revolutionary Write To Be Well four-step method proven to bring relief from stress and optimize your health, simply by writing. The book describes the research behind the method, instructs how to use it, includes compelling true-life stories from Write to Be Well users, and arms you with a unique tool to combat stress now and into the future. Everyday stress poses major health risks and is considered to be linked to the six leading causes of death in the United States. But as the authors found through their work and the research on the subject, writing heals. There is a direct correlation between writing and reduced recurrences of certain cancers, lower blood pressure for those with hypertension, strengthened immune function, and better blood glucose management for those living with diabetes. Based on these findings and others, the four-step method found in these pages guides you in naming your stress, affirming a future aligned with your values, creating SMART goals, committing to an action plan, and achieving your desired lifestyle. Thanks to the ease and flexibility of this proven approach, the Write To Be Well method can be tailored to meet your unique needs. Once you learn the four basic steps, you decide how much time you want to spend writing—just a few minutes or a few hours. Learning how to reduce your stress is the first step toward a brighter, healthier future. So, grab a pen!