I have blank-slated this site and am in the process of realigning it to create a digital sanctuary here, a place for daily postings of essays, discoveries and inspirations. I can’t think of a more fitting piece to start with than a response to Jill Jepson’s chapter “The Warrior Road” from Writing as a Sacred Path. (My other response to this chapter is here.)
What is so threatening about writing? You face the blank page knowing only you can fill it – and only if you slice into your soul. … It takes courage to write the raw, unvarnished truth: to expose your most private memories, dreams, and fears; to face up to what is wrong in the world and put it on the page; and to write with utter authenticity. – Jill Jepson
In this section, Jepson compares the writer to a warrior and talks about the courage it takes to write authentically. Overcoming fear is the first step.
The most common reactions of writers facing fear is to hide from it or ignore it. They either avoid writing, through procrastination and blocks, or forge ahead without dealing with their feelings.-Jill Jepson
I am that writer who avoids writing with procrastination and have done so for years. I know I need to commit to daily writing of something, whether short or long. I intend to dissolve my fear with structure and commitment. I intend to acknowledge my fear in order to overcome it.
What you want is to write your truth. What fear wants is to scare you away from that truth. Negotiating lets fear know you respect it but that it isn’t going to keep you from your mission. It lets fear know that you are more powerful than it is. – Jill Jepson
Jepson suggests addressing your fear directly and asking it what it wants. Steven Pressfield‘s entire book Do the Work is about overcoming fear and resistance in order to create. (You can read my posts about that work here, here, and here.) I practice acknowledging the fear and moving into a state of willingness to overcome it. When I know I should be writing but am procrastinating, I acknowledge that with a statement like, “I am not writing today even though I promised myself that I would. This is my ego/fear/resistance telling me it is a waste of time to write because nothing will come of it.” After acknowledging fear/resistance, I move into a statement of willingness, such as, “This is what I am feeling now, and I am willing to move beyond it and believe that this work has a higher purpose.” This inspires me to do the work without resisting the fear. Resistance of anything attracts more of it.
There are times, however, when the feeling of fear is an important message from our inner self, a gut instinct that something is not right or should not be done. The best explanation I’ve heard of how to recognize the difference is from Marie Forleo on this video:
I have used this technique of noticing whether I feel expansion or contraction to determine whether fear/ resistance is my ego sabotaging me or my inner self warning me.
Jepson suggests viewing our writing (or creative work) as treasure.
We absolutely must not let fear of exposure keep us from writing our truth, from delving deeply into our lives and telling stories that must be told. To deal with that fear, we must see that what we are offering the world is a treasure of immense worth. – Jill Jepson
It is in that spirit that I resurrect and align my writing with who I am now, to share the journey of my life toward a deeper spiritual purpose and greater fulfillment from creative work.