Journaling and Writing - Thanks

If this goes to print, it will be my one hundredth column published in The Mountain Press.  There is no guarantee or contract that my column will be printed.  

I never assume that it will.  

I am grateful each and every time to see it published, and also for the very kind words of encouragement many have shared along the way.  There are more talented writers who can write more eloquently with a much better looking mugshot.  

Nevertheless, this has been enjoyable, and I felt it appropriate to express my thanks.  

I was in third grade when I first saw something I wrote printed in the paper.  My third grade teacher, Doris French, read poetry to us and encouraged us to write it.  There was a competition for children writing something about the Bicentennial.  Mine was about Paul Revere.  

I still remember the thrill of seeing something I wrote in the paper, albeit with a blue million other students entries some poor soul had to type in - but still published in the Harriman Record. 

Miss French taught me to love to write.  She was just out of college and showed us it was cool to like poetry.  She read it to us every Friday afternoon. I still remember the poem she read- and how she loved to read it.  

I remember using my words to jab an English teacher as a junior in high school.  She, who clearly wasn’t feeling well, walked in and assigned us to “write something” while she sat at her desk battling the desire to go home.  

I wrote about a worn down, tired English teacher who didn’t want to teach that day’s boring Shakespeare lesson and now had to sit up late in her fuzzy housecoat with her red pen grading papers..  I knew she wouldn’t read it.  

She did.  

I wrote the first word processor created graduation speech given at Harriman High School on the new lightning quick Apple II Computers in 1985.  No one knew that bit of trivia until now, and frankly no one but me probably cares.  But I thought it was amazing at the time to hear the dot matrix printer print it off.  “When We Reach the Horizon” was the title.  

I’ve written a fair amount along the way with no intention of ever publishing any of it.  Journals, poetry, spiritual devotions, and, yes, as my close friends know, songs lyrics.  

The spiritual song lyrics/poems are an expression of a personal walk and the magnificence of grace, mercy, forgiveness, love and strength that I have known and witnessed as a follower of Christ.  

They are too personal to ever publish.  

The country song lyrics and poems are an expression of my own life and the unbelievable things I hear people tell me about their lives.  As a physician, I can never share those private moments.  But I might write a poem or lyrics to help me process it (with no names, of course). 

“You Were Just a Teflon Girlfriend” was the first one in 1988.  It was about Beth who broke up with me to date, then marry, my best friend Richard.  I still miss him.

Those, corny and a bit pointed, will clearly never be published. 

It is impossible to listen to a parent talk about losing a child and not be moved.  I have to write it out. 

The song lyrics and poems are a way to tell a story.  I recently listened to some great songwriters share how they approach their craft.  Tell the story.  Follow the lyric.  Work the rhythm.  Be careful with the rhyme.  Always have a hook.  

It confirmed what I suspected - enjoy writing for the benefit of writing and don’t expect anything more.  So I do.  

Charley Kempthorne of Olympia, Wash. was recently interviewed in The Wall Street Journal.  He began writing a private journal on February 24, 1964.  He has written every day since.  The printed version of his journal (single space, two-sided) occupies over 15 feet on a bookshelf.  

No one, including his wife of 41 years,  has ever read it.  

Mr. Kempthorne stated that he writes about everything:  regrets, decisions, moods, life, joy, people.  It, he says, is an end to itself helping him understand life, changes, and events that he has known as an average person along the way.  It has helped him with depression, divorce, and decisions that were tough, but now seen in context.  

Research has reinforced this.  Journaling 15 to 20 minutes a day writing freely about emotions, secrets, anguish, hopes, and the average events of our lives has been shown to help people reduce stress, battle depression, and even improve the immune system.  

Dr. James Pennebaker, a psychology professor, has written about this in his book “Writing to Heal.” 

My columns have helped me see things more clearly, analyze what I believe, and share trends, trickery and the travails of modern medicine.  

It has also helped me with the grief of the loss of my dad, my football coach, and, more recently, my dog.  

Many thanks to Jana Thomasson, Jason Davis and Rhonda Bletner of the Mountain Press who have allowed this wonderful opportunity I have grown to love.  

Even more thanks to the very kind words many of you, the readers and my patients, have shared with me.  It is not easy for me to share personal thoughts and be open to criticism.  The words of encouragement are tremendously appreciated.  

But I leave you with this - start writing your own journal.  Write it out.  Your anger.  Pain.  Joy.  Anxieties.  Frustrations.  Faith.  Your story.  For you - no one else.  

It does not have to be perfect English to make perfect sense to you.

It will help you understand you.  And them.  And it.  Just write it.  

Thank you, again.  See you in two weeks.  Hopefully.  

Eric J. Littleton, M.D. (@DrEricLittleton) is a musician and Family Physician in Sevierville, TN.  Topics covered are general in nature and should not be used to change medical treatments and/or plans without first discussing with your physician. Send questions to askdrlittleton@gmail.com