Write about a childhood ritual when you were sick. If there were no childhood rituals when sick, what would you have liked to happen? How would you have wanted to be treated when sick as a child?
Or write about a time you were sick.
Or write about any ritual from your childhood.
You can write about what really happened, or make something up.
You can answer from your fictional character’s point of view.
Ready to explore? Today’s writing prompt invites you to look at your old stories in new ways. Perhaps you can rewrite your story.
Excerpt from October 2016 Reader’s Digest, “Down Off The Cross,” by Debra Jarvis, a chaplain and cancer survivor.
“Let’s say I meet you on a bus. We really hit it off, but I’ve got to exit soon, so you’re going to tell me three things about yourself that help me understand who you are, that get at your essence.”
Back to the article:
“Of those three things, is one of them surviving some kind of trauma, like being a cancer survivor, a war survivor, or an abuse survivor?”
Note from Marlene: Or perhaps you are currently experiencing a difficulty or a trauma.
Back to the article: “Many of us tend to identify ourselves by our wounds.
Claim your experience; don’t let it claim you.
The way to cope with trauma, loss, or any other life-changing experience is to find meaning. But here’s the thing: No one can tell us what that meaning is. We have to decide what it means. And that meaning can be quiet and private—we don’t need to start a foundation, write a book, or work on a documentary. Instead, perhaps we make one small decision about our lives that can bring about big change.
If you find yourself repeating your survivor story: Get down off your cross.
When you repeat your survivor story, you aren’t processing your feelings—you are feeding them.
Let your old story go so that a newer, truer story can be told about who you are.
Claim your trauma as an experience instead of taking it on as your identity.
It could mean the end of being trapped by your wounds and the start of defining yourself by who you are becoming.
We’re all on this bus together. What story are you going to tell?”
Write about a time you had no worries . . .
a play-filled time . . .
a time you felt free to be you.
Does this scene look familiar? You know where it’s from if you’ve been to Maria’s Out West Garage in Petaluma, California.
Hi, Maria. 🙂
“You think you know them,
these creatures robed
in your parent’s skins.”
Writing Prompt: Read the excerpt. Copy it in your notebook, if you want. Then see what comes up for you and Just Write!
Excerpt from the poem, At the Lake House by Jon Loomis
Your favorite time of day.
