Writing is Therapeutic

Stress release in my youth involved a lot of sports, like tennis, badminton, hiking, spelunking, running, jogging, walking, and even martial arts. As I got older, traveling by car, plane, or boat became a way to release stress and see the world at the same time.

Writing has long been an interest of mine. However, it was always overshadowed by the adrenaline I received from all those physical activities. It was only as I got older, coupled with fewer opportunities for physical activity, that my desire to write began increase.

This has led to my contributing essays to websites like Anything Under the Sun, Travels and Resources, Please Pass the Ketchup, Movies and Melodies, and Crazy About Pictures for over a decade. And it was only when we migrated to a different hosting company that I realized how much that content was.

Suspension of Essay Writing

The drive to write is so strong that almost nothing would hold me back. Whenever I had an opportunity to write, I would do it. I could be while waiting for my wife at the salon, during my lunch break, or even when I was standing in line. I could write in the comfort of my school’s library, through the noise of an office cafeteria, or within the cramped driver’s seat of a parked vehicle.

Just about nothing could interrupt me from writing, especially when I am in the “zone.” And when I say almost, the only thing that did stop me was the completion of my DBA dissertation. Just like my MBA paper, this document required my full attention to complete.

Does this mean I stopped essay writing completely? Not at first. I’d still write every now and then, just to relax and recharge my mind. The effect was that my output slowed down to a trickle.

However, by the time I entered the last few trimesters of my stay in the DBA program, I had to quit writing completely. The demands of my dissertation at this point was so high that literally everything in my life had to be put on hold until I hurdled the final defense.

Shutting Down of Websites

The one thing that did put an end to my essay writing was the shuttering of these websites. The closure was due to the hosting company raising rates. And since these websites were funded from personal funds, the painful decision of closing them down was made.

When this happened, many of our contributors lost an outlet for their essays and, in Clark Steven Lupton’s case, a venue for cartoons. The effect on me was a bit of irritability. I would have dealt with it by turning to physical activities or to travel but the pandemic lock-down prevented these.

Restarting the Websites

With the ever-increasing clamor from my fellow contributors to resurrect the websites, a searching for a more affordable hosting company was started. And it was only after nearly a year, that one within our limited budget was found.

After signing up, it took about two months to get back online. Apart from re-posting the surprisingly large number of essays spread across five websites, a decision was made to shift from joomla to wordpress. This was done because the hosting company we signed up with provides better support and optimization for the latter.

Upon hearing of the revival of the websites, all of our contributors have expressed excitement to resume submitting content all over again. The only thing preventing us from posting pre-closure volumes is that many need to jump start the flow of their creative juices after a bit of a hiatus.

In the Short Term Future

Now that we are back up, my fellow writers and I are looking forward to another two and a half years of stress-released writing. We will be sharing more of our opinions and experience covering a multitude of topics under the sun.

And if our provider allows us to continue at the same rates after our current contract expires then we will be around for another three years; maybe even more. But if rates are raised once more, expect us to temporarily go offline as we migrate to another home.

In the Medium Term Future

While it would be great for Anything Under the Sun, Travels and Resources, Please Pass the Ketchup, Movies and Melodies, and Crazy About Pictures to earn money, I doubt it would be possible. Even breaking is something we are not counting on.

The current landscape has social media companies swallowing up traffic as people refrain from leaving their confines. The writing is on the wall – independent websites that own their domains are living on borrowed time. Only the sites that have specialized transactions, such as those involving sales or services, have a better chance of survival. All others will most likely go through a slow, agonizing demise.

In light of this, we had actually considered migrating all our content into the biggest social media website. Not only would it be free, we could probably earn money from such a move. But after much consideration, it was decided to stick it out in order to retain creative control and ownership of intellectual property.

Apart from the rise of social media, the taste of consumers has shifted towards video, thanks to cheaper and faster internet connections. The rise of mobile phones have also contributed to a change in how video is consumed, with many doing it while on-the-go. This has fueled demand for content that can be consumed quickly. By contrast, written essays take comparatively longer to consume as they are meant to be done at a leisurely pace.

Taking this into consideration, we looked into transitioning to video but decided against it. The lack of equipment, or the skill to use them, was never an issue as many of our contributors have mobile phones and dSLRs capable to recording video. Some even have microphones, LED lighting, and equipment stands. Even the cost of software was never an issue as free options exist for editing through today’s capable computers.

It was only after experimenting with vlogging several times that it gave rise to the consensus that the activities involved with video were more stressful than taking still pictures and writing. We’re old school, I know, but then one can’t force relaxation on people. As the saying goes, different strokes for different folks.

Final Thoughts

We now come to the end of a relatively long essay, at least by today’s standards. I started out tense after a rather long day, but am now quite relaxed after jotting down 1,144 words. It may not release endorphins like physical activity does or bring in the big bucks like vlogging can, but I can’t argue that writing has proven to be quite therapeutic for me.