Writing Your Way Past Fear

Journalling in the morning, I must say, is a marvelous way to jump start the day.

Now, if you've never kept a journal, you might assume that journal writing is only for people attempting to write profound treatises on life, love, and, I don't know, the deafening sound of their inevitable mortality mercilessly marching toward them. (For propriety's sake I won't mention where I just pulled that out of.)

On the contrary, journalling is mostly a great way to get rid of JUNK.

Yes, mon ami. Junk.

A journal provides an individual such as myself a place to transfer and organize all of the bits and pieces of schtuff that are taking up space in my brain. From to-do lists and frustrations to memories I want to keep someplace safer than my cerebral cortex, my journal- nothing more than a simple spiral notebook- is a welcoming, catch-all repository. I may end up creating little illustrations to go along with the words I've jotted down. Or perhaps I'll go crazy and add in a couple of insights!

Now why didn't I think of that?

Let me point out, however, that I don't try and make an entry every day like I used to; only when I feel like writing something on paper vs. pecking out letters on a keyboard. However, I find journalling to be kind of like going to the gym: it always feels good when I do it and then immediately wonder why I don't do it every day.

That's how I felt after one morning's journalling session. That morning I'd woken up before dawn feeling overwhelmed, so I rolled over and grabbed a notebook and pen from my nightstand. I felt like I needed to take out some major mental trash that, for some reason, had been piling up faster than the strands of no-longer-functioning Christmas lights in our living room.

Not our lights.

While most of the time I have no format for my journal writing- it's mainly just stream-of-consciousness- that morning was different. I realized, as I jotted down my pet grievances, that I needed to get to the bottom of some of these issues that were weighing me down. This was due to the fact that I noticed an all-too-familiar theme cropping up:

fear.


Not big, monstrous fears (thankfully) but rather subtle little fears that were thorny enough to keep me apprehensive and stuck in neutral. And naturally, when one is stuck, there is a lack of movement forward. And when there's no movement forward, back-ups occur.

I knew I needed to uncover what was going on that was causing my back-up so I tried a writing exercise that always helps me unravel my tangled ball of frustrations. (Again, Christmas lights come to mind... which makes me think I'm seeing yet another theme here besides fear....)


This fill-in-the-blank exercise is quite simple, actually, and I thought I'd share it with you.

You don't even need to have a journal to do it, just a piece of paper and a writing utensil.

Are you ready?

Write the words, "If I weren't so afraid of ________I would ______."

Complete the sentence as many times as you can. Just let your mind go from one thought to another.

Here's are some examples:

If I weren't so afraid of making a mistake I would submit that proposal.

If I weren't so afraid of hearing "no" I would ask to collaborate with xyz organization.

If I weren't so afraid of saying the wrong thing I would initiate important conversations.

If I weren't so afraid of getting hurt/criticized I would dare to write that book.

As always, after I completed the exercise I felt so much better afterward. I could specifically see where I needed to take a more active than passive approach in various areas of my life. And because I could see what actions needed to happen, I took a couple of important and long overdue steps.

So when you feel stuck or frustrated, try this exercise. Or create your own version.  It will help you dig deeper and get to the root cause of your problem. Writing down what troubles us can eventually help us name what is truly going on, and how we need to take ownership of our circumstances. And journalling, especially in the morning, reduces the overwhelming tangled mess of emotional blockage into a few actionable tasks for the day. Once you get all of the junk- the whining, complaining, Pity Party 2.0- all of a sudden your brain has "space" to determine what needs to happen so everything can start flowing again.

Speaking of flow, I need to get a new notebook, since I just filled up the last one. 'Cause apparently there were lots of pity parties going on.

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Photo Credits: Creative Commons
Pencil: Pinksherbet
Design for a flying machine by Leonardo da Vinci
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