I have to write a paper about a place/time that I have an emotional attachment to or a place that has shaped my sense of self. I haven’t really felt much of an attachment to anything for most of my life. Even if I did, I wouldn’t even know how to begin describing the nature or cause of that attachment. I chose to write about the woods by my childhood home because I spent a lot of time there as a kid but I couldn’t tell you how I felt about it in the moment or even how I feel about it now. I literally don’t have the words
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I hope you’re getting the help you need to cope long-term.
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Focus on the tangible, objective details of the memory. And if you don’t have your own “why,” that’s okay! Focus instead on what the facts deem likely.
For example:
“I remember liking the woods. There aren’t really words for how I felt, but I’ll help you see it how I might have seen it: Sunny days shaded by the leaves. Cool, damp nights. The sounds of different birds. The sounds of rustling branches. Twigs and leaves under foot.”
Hopefully you can see what I did there. That’s all a linear statement of facts. You’re literally just writing the things that you, or anyone else, might have experienced while in the woods.
BUT - and here’s the important part - everyone else will form their own emotions around it, based on their own experiences. So the listeners will believe you’re sharing emotions. And it’s okay if you aren’t feeling them.
So just describe things from memory, maybe adding in extra likely details.
Also, if someone questions your word choice, it’s acceptable to say something like, “you and I may process emotions differently. To me, those were the right words.”
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Read several novels, and in time,you will learn how to label emotions.
I don’t think I’ll be able to cram enough reading in to learn how to feel emotions by Sunday night but I’ll try my best
