Fear of Writing: It Might Not Be What You Think. 10 Powerful Writing Prompts.
For many people I work with, writing is hard. It’s hard for different reasons for different people.
Hard to find the time
Hard to focus
Hard to start
Hard to finish (because finishing means you can share it)
Hard to find the words
Hard to write emotional topics
Hard to face topics they haven’t yet healed
Hard because they’re afraid
Hard because they feel their voice doesn’t matter
When people aren’t writing, or they’re writing and not publishing or sharing, it’s not because they lack motivation or drive. They’re certainly not lazy at all.
It runs much deeper than this.
It’s fear.
Fear of judgment, rejection, being seen, and having nothing to say.
Fear about their writing not being perfect or writing something the “wrong” way.
Fear of oversharing details of their private lives.
I know some of these fears well. Last year I wrote about my fear of speaking up in Healing the Throat Chakra and Speaking Truth To Be a Better Writer.
Photo by Ian Keefe.
“Fear is one of the lowest vibrations and right now there is a massive fear paradigm going on in the matrix.” Liana Shanti, How to Escape the Matrix Trap of Fear.
Telling someone who’s feeling fearful to publish their writing just to feel the fear anyway and do it doesn’t fix the problem. And they might very well not be able to physically push through. You’ll see fear in core wounding.
Liana Shanti teaches about the 12 core wounds. They are:
Core wound 1: Fear of not being acknowledged.
Core wound 2: Fear of being abandoned.
Core wound 3: Fear of loss.
Core wound 4: Fear of loneliness and isolation.
Core wound 5: Fear of change.
Core wound 6: Fear of meaninglessness.
Core wound 7: Fear that you’re unsafe and not secure.
Core wound 8: Fear of being vulnerable.
Core wound 9: Fear of powerlessness.
Core wound 10: Fear of being unworthy.
Core wound 11: Fear of rejection.
Core wound 12: Fear of failure.
Source: Liana Shanti
Now, if you’re feeling any kind of fear around your writing, read through that list of core wounds again. Can you see how all of these fears apply to why you’re not writing and sharing? Or maybe you’re writing but you’re not writing what your heart truly wants to say.
For core wound healing, I highly recommend Liana’s core wound healing programs and Lifepath Manifesting.
What would be possible for you if you could write without fear?
Would you take more action?
Would you have total freedom to write whatever you wanted?
Would you write more?
Would you just go for it?
Would you feel safe, grounded, hopeful, excited?
And… would your writing feel more authentic?
When you connect with someone’s words, there’s a good chance they’re doing the healing work. They’ve recognized where they’ve had fear and are moving past them. Or, they’ve cleared the fear and are now speaking from a clear and completely grounded place.
It’s the kind of writing that makes us pine to write too. We want to sound like that. Of course, we can’t copy them (inauthentic and just plain stealing).
But here’s what we can do.
We can begin to heal and start writing.
We can notice the fear, calm our nervous system, and keep writing.
We can gather in community, safely share our fears, and keep speaking.
Since fear is the lowest vibration you have, we can’t stay here. When we stay in fear, we’re not shining our lights, we’re not sharing, and we’re sure as shit not connecting.
When we heal our wounds so that we can share authentically, we give our nervous systems a blueprint for sharing.
We’re showing our unconscious minds what it feels like to move past the fear — to write, share, navigate judgment, and keep going. Thank you to Brenda Terry, who’s taught me and some of my students how to give our nervous system the blueprint to ‘just go for it’!
Deep healing work is essential to uncovering feelings of not being safe in our writing.
As you approach your writing practice, see if you can offer yourself some compassion about the resistance to writing or sharing your writing, and begin to understand where it comes from. Morning pages are a priceless tool to explore your relationship to writing and fear.
Your voice matters,
Your words matter.
Your journey is yours — and yours to share. And it matters.
Writing prompts for exploring fear in sharing your written work.
If you want to explore some writing prompts on the topic of fear of publishing your writing, try some of these in your next journaling session:
As you explore these, free-write — no editing, judgment, or censoring. Allow whatever wants to come up.
When did you decide it was unsafe to use your voice?
What’s your relationship with perfectionism?
Do you try to control everything you can?
Did someone in your life have high standards for your behavior and achievements growing up?
What does safety feel like to you?
Where do you sense you need to prove yourself in your writing?
List all the things you believe about writing that are keeping you from sharing your voice — then, for each one, write 3 reasons why it IS safe to share.
What would you write if you knew it was safe to share your voice?
What does complete freedom in your writing look like?
If you were free to write, what would you say?
Do you need some support in moving some of this resistance to writing?
Get in touch with Jacq to work together 1:1
Join the writing community
For even more writing prompts, follow the journey inside my new book, Intuitive Writing.
