Inspiration | Newletterish

These Two Hobbies Are Great for Your Mental Health

Add friendship, stir gently, and let marinate for many years

“Reading is my inhale and writing is my exhale.”

— Glennon Doyle Melton

Hello, beloved readers and writers!

Writing that little greeting to you made me think of something I would imagine most (or certainly many) of us don’t consider too often: what a blessing it is to be able to read and write. And how privileged we are to have many tools and resources at our disposal that allow us to pursue our love of words.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since the weekend. I was watching a brilliant film, The Constant Gardener, starring Ralph Fiennes. It was based on a real-life incident in Kano, Nigeria.

Much of the Oscar-nominated film version takes place in poverty-stricken settings in Kenya. There was a point where a young boy presents a “card” to someone (I don’t want to give away the story). It was meant to be the sort of card that we think nothing of buying, e.g. for birthdays, graduations, weddings, etc. Rows and rows of cards sit waiting for us to make our selections before getting in our cars and driving home with them.

Yet this boy walked 80 km (about 50 miles) round-trip to hand-deliver a poorly-spelled message on a torn-off bit of cardboard.

I invite you to take time today to take a look around your home. Take note of the many pens, pencils, felt pens, fountain pens, erasers, notebooks, and other delights that allow you to write. Take time to contemplate these blessings, these gifts of privilege.

Look at your collection of books. How many have you got? How much do you love and appreciate your books? I’ll bet you would hate to part with them. Consider the joy and privilege of hanging out in a huge book shop and sipping coffee and nibbling on a cookie. Or attending your local library with thousands of books that you can borrow.

You might be creative in other ways, too, and have crayons, paints, craft supplies, balls of wool, bottles of glitter, pages of stickers and other fun bits for scrapbooks or journalling.

You might have a house filled with odds and ends of goodies that allow you to express yourself…including the ability to do it through cooking and baking, having access to whatever foods you need to create wonderful edibles that are a joy to behold and a delight to eat.

We are so blessed to be able to enjoy reading countless articles, stories and poems. We are blessed to be able to speak freely and express ourselves on virtually any topic we choose through our love of words.

Millions of people in the world do not have access to anything to read. Nor are they allowed to express themselves without sometimes deadly repercussions.

It is a blessing to be able to write whatever we want, to share our innermost thoughts, our joys, our silly moments, our greatest pain. Whatever the stories we wish to share, we are free to do so. It is a gift to be allowed that privilege.

Our Love of Words Helps Keep Us Healthy

Not only is it a privilege to be able to express ourselves, it’s extremely important for our mental health and resilience.

According to Psychology Today:

“Creative self-expression reduces stress and increases a sense of well-being and other positive emotions. It helps to heal wounds and bridge differences, supporting…health, well-being, resilience, and coping abilities.”

It is also a blessing to be able to read the words of others, to read those stories of their hearts and souls. To respect them and honour their experience, their life stories, their wisdom, their humour, their willingness to share who they are and to make themselves vulnerable to us.

So here we are, all of us with these two hobbies — great loves — that enhance our lives, and we get to share them with a community that understands and shares that love.

I am honoured to have such a beautiful community of pub readers and writers who support one another — and others on Medium, as well. It was such a joy to spend time with some of you in our “pub writers video chat” at the weekend. Another blessing…the miracle of technology and the privilege of owning devices that allowed us to connect in that way.

The Canadian Mental Health Association says this:

“…connecting with others is more important than you might think. Social connection can lower anxiety and depression, help us regulate our emotions, lead to higher self-esteem and empathy, and actually improve our immune systems. By neglecting our need to connect, we put our health at risk.”

How lucky we are to have each other, a group of like-minded souls who share a passion for words and self-expression. And how wonderful it is when some of our Medium connections turn into friendships, further supporting us in our journeys in ways that extend beyond our love of words.

MentalHealth.org.uk says this:

“Friendship is a crucial element in protecting our mental health. Our friends can keep us grounded, help us get things in perspective, and help us manage the problems that life throws at us.”

I have created a private community for my pub writers to hang out. It’ll allow us a deeper opportunity to share and get to know each other. It’ll also be a space where I can easily give you links to our private events or other goodies that I won’t share publicly. That’s because…well, some stuff will be just for my pub writers!

If you would like to join, please contact me so I can share the super top-secret link with you. After our inaugural video chat, almost everyone joined. I’m looking forward to us spending some time in the group and building an even stronger community.

This Week’s Theme

Typical of my Pisces nature, “going with the flow” and being changeable, you might have noticed that my prompts are often quite broad…here’s another!

I’d love to hear anything you want to share about what I wrote above. The blessing and privilege of reading, writing, creative self-expression, the crafts and goodies you have in your home to do some of that, the importance of friendship — and especially with regard to pursuing your passion and having someone with whom you can share it…

How blessed we are to be able to express ourselves freely and creatively among strangers and friends alike. What a wonderful gift to find support and encouragement from like-minded souls from all parts of the globe!

An Invitation

To those of you who were on the chat and who joined the group, I’d love it if you’d pop into the private community and share your biggest take-away from our event!

Video Chat Update

We. Had. Fun! With Mercury being retrograde, we sure had a lot of email issues last week. And there were some nail-biting moments just trying to get myself logged on with my lovely co-host, Sharon Sayler, Author, which provided a few minutes’ entertainment for some of our viewers!

And yes, I will be doing another one. I’ll work on making it at a more civil time for those of you who were struggling. But again, there will be some who miss out.

This week, we celebrate Shorties But Goodies having 139 followers!

Hope, Healing and Humour has 93!

And our beloved little friend, Witchy…is so excited because her pub got five new followers in the past week!! She’s got 23 now after being stuck at 18 for a while.

She and I want to thank those of you who followed her pub. 🙏💝 She’s still erupting in quiet little giggles now and then as she thinks about it!

In response to last week’s Pet/Animal prompt:

Suma Narayan shares an unusual short story about an injured cat and its relationship with her father:

…and she has offered this inspiring story of faith, hope and healing that took me on an emotional journey:

Kris Bedenian challenged herself by writing about her pet, and in part, how this adorable little dog stuck to Kris through her battle with breast cancer. A sweet dog and wonderful photos with a lovely story…

Carrie Kolar has written a heartwarming, amusing, and insightful story about her cats — isn’t it fun when you can get all three of those qualities into one story?

Aside from pet stories, we had a lot of other interesting, thought-provoking and inspiring submissions over the past week. Take a look!

Shameem Anwar contributes a thought-provoking story that can turn good and evil on their heads:

B.R. Shenoy offers a fabulous diet tip to help with sleep!

Kris Bedenian shares some wonderful thoughts on the purpose of feeling lonely:

…and the purpose of feeling stuck…

…and the purpose of feeling hopeful

…and the purpose for feeling love

Trista Signe Ainsworth has been creating magnificent food and photos, and sharing magical words. Take a peek at this message from your Inner Being:

Umme Salma offers a beautiful look at how her first 100 days of writing have changed her:

Drashti Shroff tells us some of the best advice her father gave her, and it contains messages we can all take away:

Slow train lives somewhere that values nature in an unusual way. If only more places did this:

Nia Simone McLeod has me craving cookies…and I love how she describes them!

Christine Vann, MSc. shares a story about David Bowie’s prediction for the internet in 1999…

Patricia Wright has a few cool things to say about change:

DL Nemeril has some wonderful ideas about how to lift yourself out of despair or feeling down:

Eko BP shares a lovely story about hope — and the gift of non-judgment, too!

Rhea Anglesey shares some extra clever fun with wordplay — right up my alley!! Do you love this sort of thing as much as I do?

Victoria Gregg has some wonderful insights about listening to your heart:

Dina Alexander ponders a very “thinky” (to use Witchy’s word) article on happiness — and doughnuts — but not in the way you might expect:

Susie Kearley offers up some info on the “new Medium”:

Tyra Jaide has a new journal and some inspiring words to go with it:

And yours truly posted a little message just after our “Pub Writers Video Event”

Witchy expressed a desire to contribute to our Pub Family but she is shy with most people. She’s not much of a writer but through her drawings, she shares the stories of her new life in a strange country. Well, “strange” to her after leaving the witches and vampires in the Transylvania Forest…

Here’s one from when she met her friend, the doughnut-maker:

A huge “thank you!” to my beloved writers who are doing such a wonderful job, sharing their hearts and supporting the pubs and our Pub Family. I appreciate you for all you do.

Here is our current list of writers, which grows weekly!

Dr Andrea Polzer Kris Bedenian Rodney Brazier Patti Murray Voncannon Carrie Kolar Croix Sather Deb Fiore Dina Alexander DL Nemeril Donnette Anglin, Loren Lieberthal Jimmy Misner Jr. Judy Millar Julie Gaeta Pene Hodge Karen Schwartz James Knight Laura Izquierdo pockett dessert Dr. Preeti Singh Radhika Iyer Sam Branstner Sharon Sayler, Author Umme Salma Susie Kearley Tamil T Mann Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles Lion~ Wendy S. Bradfield Yana Bostongirl Jo An Fox-Wright Maddox Suma Narayan Penny Walsh Shameem Anwar Irene Fassler Sandy Peckinpah Trista Signe Ainsworth Slow train A.H. Mehr Alex Frederickson Ashley Nicole B.R. Shenoy Carolyn Hastings Christina Christine Vann, MSc. Ellie Jacobson ✍🏻 The Soulful Scribbler Isabel Young Kaz Rochford Nia Simone McLeod Nicole Hilbig Patricia Wright Pam Winter Rachella Angel Page Jodian Marie Thomas, MS, Bsc, Asc L Burton Muhammad Abdullah Kate Aries Danielle Hestand Sahil Patel Jessica Rabel Sharing Words Malky McEwan Belinda Castle Barbara Cook Tyra Jaide Megan Llorente Eko BP Drashti Shroff Evergreen Eden Bernie Pullen Hamsalekha Rhea Anglesey