Whenever I talk to writers about how anxiety shows up during the writing process, I usually ask them if they’re experiencing the most anxiety during the first draft stage, the editing stage, or the stage where they begin to share their writing with other people. And always, quite a few writers tell me that they experience the most anxiety before they even start ANY of the stages. It’s when they are thinking about beginning a writing project, or pushing themselves to actually sit down and do it, that they feel the most freaked out.
This strong, underlying anxiety about the writing process is rooted in perfectionism, and it causes writers to self-sabotage their writing goals before they even begin.
If you’re suffering from this problem, you feel scared to start projects, or like you’re holding part of yourself back when you do start writing. Self-sabotage can also show up as a resistance to success or abundance, because subconsciously we believe that we don’t deserve it.
When we self-sabotage we experience a conflict between our conscious mind and our unconscious mind. We may consciously want to finish our novel, publish something, and own our identity as a writer, but unconsciously we are terrified that people will judge us, or reject us, or success will come with expectations that we can’t possibly meet.
I talk more about this in the video below:
It’s almost impossible for writers to move past self-sabotaging behavior on their own, because you can’t see your own blind spots, and you definitely can’t work on those blind spots when you have no outside direction or support.
I’m teaching a new class this spring called Mastering Motivation for Intuitive Writers and we’re going to be diving deep into writing blocks like perfectionism and self-sabotage.
This will be an intense 4-week program that includes live classes, live Directed Writing Sessions, and live Group Sharing meetings where writers will be invited to step up and share their work, as well as make a personal pledge toward their writing goals.
This class is going to ask a lot of writers, and it’s only for those who are really serious about moving forward. Since it will be intense not only for class members, but also for me as a teacher, I won’t be teaching it again anytime soon. So this is your chance to take advantage of this opportunity, don’t miss out on really helping yourself move toward your goals. To be sure you don’t miss registering, SIGN UP for my newsletter here, and SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel here. You can send me any questions you might have here.
Registration opens March 25 and is only open until March 29. I hope I see you there!
Lauren Sapala is the author of The INFJ Writer, The INFJ Revolution, and the creator of Energy and Intuition for INFJs, an online course for INFJs on intuition, relationships, creativity, and more. She is also currently offering a free copy of her book Firefly Magic: Heart Powered Marketing for Highly Sensitive Writers to anyone who signs up for her newsletter. SIGN UP HERE to get your free copy.
