All of my 1:1 coaching programmes have a session in them called ‘What’s Your Story?’ and essentially, it’s a session where I ask my clients to get a bit creative.
We talk about how creativity can help you to express yourself and it’s my absolute favourite session to do with my clients.
I love getting creative – I’ve completed a degree in English & Creative Writing and a Masters in Creative Writing so creativity is something I’m really interested in. And not just for the enjoyment side of things but from a wellbeing perspective too.
A lot of you know that I use writing as a way of working through what I’m feeling. And as I’ve recently launched my free ebook – Writing for Confidence – I wanted to take you through the 5 techniques included in there that I’ve used to build my confidence.
P.S If you grab my ebook, you’ll find tips and prompts for all of the following writing techniques. Just hit the link above.
Journaling
I’m sure we’ve all attempted to keep a diary at some point in our lives. It’s not always easy to keep up, is it? I think the longest I lasted was about a week when I was 8.
But a similar technique – journaling – is now something I do every single day & I encourage my clients to do the same. Why? Because not only has it been a cathartic tool for myself but it’s also been scientifically proven to have other health benefits, including boosting your immunity.
Journaling is a great way to document how you’re feeling, process how your day went or simply get stuff off your mind before you go to bed. Just 5 minutes a day can make a difference.
Throwing it back with a blog
Okay, you might be thinking to yourself: ‘Allie, blogging is so 2014.’
I get it. But I still blog for fun and I find that even if it doesn’t reach millions of people, it reaches the people I want to speak to.
I’ve made some brilliant connections through blogging and been invited to blogger events at NSPCC, TOTM and more. I even won an award.
But it never started like that – it was just a way to share my writing and my story with the world. I’ve had cancer survivors reach out to me to say that my posts really resonate with them and that’s the most important thing for me.
Blogging is a great way to put your story into the world, without even ever having to show your face. And it helps you build your confidence in making your voice heard.
Freewriting
You may not have heard of freewriting but you may well have done it at some point in your life.
Similar to brainstorming, freewriting can help your ideas or emotions to come to the fore, even when you didn’t realise they were there.
It’s basically writing with no regard for spelling, punctuation or grammar – you write without censoring yourself in any way.
This allows you to get into a good flow and to brain dump everything on the page, without being hindered by spellcheck.
Letter writing
Remember letters?
I used to LOVE writing letters – there’s just something so much more romantic about writing a letter than sending an email.
You might be out of the habit of letter writing but don’t worry, this isn’t going to be an official communication like we learned to write in school.
Writing a letter to your past, present or future self can be a really powerful way of realising what’s important to you or comprehending just how far you’ve come.
Creative writing
You might not think writing creatively could help you to move through your own confidence issues but it can give you an indirect way of looking at what’s holding you back.
As children, we are a lot more creative than we are as adults. It’s like we forget how much fun it is to make up stories and use our imagination.
Even when I’m writing about something completely different, I sometimes see themes in my own life coming up. Some of the characters I write about even have the same quirks of people in my life.
I’d love you to give creative writing a go, even if you think you’re no good at it. That’s just your inner critic talking, girl.
Download my free ebook and get your gorgeous hands on plenty of writing tips and prompts to build your confidence.
