The Pencil Thing: When Life Pulls You Back to the Basics!

I could have never imagined that sometime later in my adult life, I would have to make a comeback to writing with pencils. At school, progressing from pencils to pens was regarded as a significant shift. It is treated as one of the many signs that you have arrived at the doors of young adulthood. As we progress further, lives take a more professional form where pencils are regarded as kiddish and pens, sometimes the luxury variety, are looked upon as standard tools. However, sometimes Life can pan out in such a manner that whatever seems standard or natural needs to be re-evaluated.

I am now returning to the basics, i.e. writing with pencils, and this is why…this is not about the medically documented benefits of writing with a pencil but about the psychological, more humane side to the story.

You must have read about my mom’s Parkinson’s on this blog. It is a cruel disease and sometimes I wish, I could lash out at the health research community as to why a vaccine or cure for it is still missing. One of the primary, most prominent diagnostic symptoms of Parkinson’s is Micrographia. Here, your handwriting becomes smaller and smaller, up to the point that it is almost unreadable. Signing cheques seems like a task. You cannot fill up a standard form since you write almost out of control, scribbling with such great speed that it looks as if the pen you are holding has a mind of its own. My mother had this too.

An Observation

As part of her therapy, the neurologist recommended going back to writing with pencils. According to him, the pencil tip provides more grip and is easier to control. For nearly a month, I did not heed this theory, fully assured that pencils are in no way superior to pens that I hoard by the hundreds. After a few weeks, I saw my mother practicing her signatures with a pencil. Her handwriting, though not back to normal by any standards, had improved significantly.

I Make a U-turn

Over the next few days, I put using pencils to the test. I have this habit of scribbling ideas that I deem worthy of being blogged. This includes spontaneous ideas for this blog too! The results have been shocking indeed. I write much better with pencils. The grip is easier, the alphabets are clearer to read and it doesn’t look as if the words are fighting a battle against each other. Invariably, there were some real benefits to writing with a pencil and even if you happen to be a working adult, there are small avenues hidden in our daily lives that allow holding one of the most basic and forgotten tools of learning and skill development.

Floating Nostalgia

To give company to my mother for her writing practice, I plan to stick to the pencil for some time. Pens, just like adulthood which I chased with such fervor, can wait…sometimes, going back to the basics helps you realize that what you left behind wasn’t necessarily as humble as it looked. Living life in the present with an eye on the future is critical. But every now and then, a peek into the past can help you reconnect with your past and sometimes this can be therapeutic. If you want to read about this, try to search the web for psychological or neurological advantages of using a pencil over a pen and not those related to merely better handwriting...

Revisiting this Post in 2024...

Like I keep saying, when you are around the 40-year mark, things seem to often go around in circles and come back to you in different ways. In this case, I am reconnecting with writing physically, physically, with the right pencil grip and all, to help my daughter. Vrinda, a 4-year-old, bundle of excessive energy packed into a small frame is into coloring up anything & everything and while helping her out, I am revisiting my love for the tangible paper and the textures that cannot be felt via digital tools. I also see my mother losing her grip entirely, thanks to the invasive form of Parkinson's that has ruined her life. At my end, I still get anxious on some days, and on those days, I find my signatures on cheque leaves a lot less convincing. However, every time I look at Vrinda, I know that a certain part of me, no matter how flawed, is falling in love with something so simple and eternally beautiful.

On this note, I want to share another thing: this piece on Getpocket.com - "Writing Can Help Us Heal from Trauma" - is an absolute must-read for people who have never maintained a personal journal or a diary. This is the real stuff and there is no layer of argument to it or any contradiction whatsoever. The truth is that when you write, organically or using the keypad, you connect and process things a lot better, including those that are bothering you. While this might not take away the anxiousness or sadness in you, it can make the day slightly easier to navigate.

Getting Sciency About it:

Content-based on the article titled:

Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Expressive writing is a therapeutic technique that has been studied extensively, particularly by a researcher named James Pennebaker. The basic idea is that writing about your deepest thoughts and emotions can actually provide some amazing health benefits - both mental and physical. An article in the journal Advances in Psychiatric Treatment dives into Pennebaker's work on this subject. His research found that expressive writing, where people disclose traumatic or stressful experiences through their writing, can lead to significant improvements in overall well-being. The studies highlighted showed things like stronger immune system functioning, reduced stress levels, and even fewer doctor visits among those who practiced expressive writing. So how does simply writing provide these powerful benefits?

Experts think it has to do with several factors - processing difficult experiences cognitively, releasing pent-up emotions, and becoming gradually exposed to upsetting memories in a safe environment. While the effects can vary from person to person, the research paints expressive writing as an accessible, low-cost therapeutic tool with great potential. The next time you're struggling with something emotional, you might want to try picking up a pen. Getting those bottled-up feelings out and onto the page could be more healing than you think!