You’re not a real writer if you haven’t written through pain.

I remember being sick with COVID and still writing blog posts for a client.

Still, being creative takes a toll on the body. How many times have we learned about entertainers who died suddenly from a preventive disease?

It doesn’t matter how much writing means to you if you’re not here to do it. This is not to scare you into searching symptoms on WebMD.

It’s a reminder to keep your health at the forefront. Why? Because those little aches and pains we ignore are probably red flags.

One thing many of these health issues have in common is that they’re not serious enough in nature. But overtime, if they’re not addressed, they can become serious conditions that can affect your writing altogether.

Let’s start with the mental.

Mental Pain

When we think of mental pain, what’s the main problem that comes to mind?

Writer’s block.

And yes, writer’s block is a type of “mental fog” that every writer experiences. But it could also be an effect of deeper mental issues.

What are some of those issues? Let’s find out.

Depression

Depression is a mood disorder that can affect the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves in their daily interactions.

While genetics is one cause of depression, social isolation is another. And who works in a socially isolated environment most of the time? Writers.

What does depression look like?

• A lack of interest in activities.
• Persistent sadness or emptiness.
• Withdrawal from social activities or relationships.
• Changes in appetite.
• Low energy or fatigue.
• Changes in sleep patterns.

As ironic as it is, the nature of our profession places us at greater risk of experiencing depression.

Think about it. As a writer, you’re constantly working in isolation away from friends, family, and even coworkers.

On top of that, you’re keeping up to date with current events that aren’t always positive. Depending on the type of writer that you are, you’re also trying to juggle deadlines for other clients. This can lead to the next mental disorder.

Anxiety

Anxiety is a mental disorder that involves frequent feelings of intense panic and fear. Some types of anxiety are:

• Social anxiety disorder.
• Generalized anxiety disorder.
• Separation anxiety disorder.  
• Agoraphobia.
• Selective mutism.

How does writing lead to anxiety? An easier question would be how does it not?

Again, this is where the nature of our profession comes back to hurt us. As writers, we want to write the most perfect piece.

And even though we know that piece doesn’t exist, it doesn’t stop us from trying to create it.

Constantly worrying about every headline, sentence, and paragraph can spike a writer’s stress levels. Feeling like you have to compete with AI and all of the technological advances is another level of stress.

How can anxiety affect your writing?

• Harder concentration.
• Increased procrastination.
• Performance anxiety.
• Increased fatigue and irritability.

The more you worry about each step of the writing process, the harder it can feel to even get started. This constant worry can make it harder to concentrate, lower your confidence, and keep you in a constant cycle of stress.

Now that we’ve addressed the mental pain, let’s look at the physical pain that writers endure.

Physical Pain

The average person will assume that writers barely face any physical strain from their profession. But that could be further from the truth.

Vision Problems

Guess what we do as writers? Spend a large amount of time looking at different devices.

This prolonged screen time can place a significant amount of strain on our eyes. What are the signs of serious eye strain?

• Blurred or double vision.
• Persistent headaches.
• Dry or watery eyes.
• Sensitivity to light.
• Heavy pressure on the eyelids.

When your eyes are strained, it makes writing and editing extremely difficult. The usual mistakes that you can spot in a text go overlooked because of blurred vision or sore eyes.

Even worse, with vision problems come another set of physical injuries – head, back, and neck pain.

Ergonomic Pain

Prolonged screen time, in addition to long hours spent at a desk, can cause repetitive strain injuries in the head, back, and neck area.

Unfortunately, these injuries are too easy to come by. We’ve all lost track of time when writing and have lost ourselves in our work.

When you’re trying to complete a project, you forget about simple things like your posture or feeling comfortable in your workspace.

Even when repeatedly using a pen or pencil, you can still experience musculoskeletal discomfort.

Just like the mental pain, the physical pain experienced from ergonomic injuries can affect productivity. It’s hard to focus on your projects when several areas of your body are in pain.

Blood flow can be reduced and make it even harder to process information. Lower blood flow means less nutrients are being fed to the brain, affecting areas like attention and working memory.

And guess what areas of the brain you need to work creatively? Attention and working memory.

Final Thoughts

Just like any other professional, we writers have our own set of challenges.

These challenges could be the mental anguish of working alone for extended periods of time. Or writing in the same posture for hours and hours on end.

In any case, our health needs to take priority. It’s really easy to ignore our mental and physical health. Or “write through the pain.”

But I’d rather schedule reminders throughout my day to address my health than do nothing.

Remember, you can’t write your best work when you don’t feel your best. And fortunately, there are simple steps that you can take to keep your health on track.

Stay tuned for those tips in my next blog post.

In the meantime, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.