Writing Pain

“In the darkest corners of a writer’s heart, you’ll find the stories that never made it to the page, the ones too painful to share but too profound to forget.” These are the words written by Dr. Nitin Chopra, an Indian writer and physician.

If we talk about pain, it comes in different forms like psychological, emotional and physical pains that are all experienced by all of us human beings. Nobody is immune to this human affliction, as it is the other side of joy and pleasure which we all experience also at some points in our lives.

Everybody has experienced pain a few or many times in their life. Even a newly-born babe might have felt some physical pain, and in rare cases, even emotional pain. Naturally, the baby’s reaction would be an expression of pure emotion through crying. He would consequently shed tears.

As he grows up, a young child continues to learn life’s lessons, usually through “growing pains”. There are individuals who say that they learn best in pain. So in their growing years, the painful things they experienced taught them hard and deep.

Those pain experiences left an indelible mark in their subconscious mind. Some of these deeply pained souls express their feelings and thoughts in different ways like in music and writing. Such pain compels them to write down what troubles their spirits, and seek catharsis in writing.

But just like what Dr. Nitin Chopra stated, there are stories that are too painful to share in writing yet they are too profound just to forget. So no matter how a writer wants to exorcise himself of the pain deep within him, he finds it too difficult to do. However, there were several writers who used their personal painful experiences to be the fuel that compelled them to write. These include Emily Dickinson, Elaine Scarry, Harriet Jacobs, Henry James and Alice James, to name a few.

Some find it hard to express their pain in words because they feel their emotional energy is being depleted by it. But there are also some who vent their pent-up emotions into words and letters. This is the means in which they gain emotional catharsis.

However, writing is not just about an expression of emotions, particularly pain and sadness. It is also a means of communicating thoughts or reasons for almost all things inside and outside oneself. There must be balance between one’s mind and heart in communication, or writing in particular. So it is the writer’s responsibility to strike the balance, not to be too emotional that reason is compromised, and not too rational that humanity is ignored.