You may or may not be starting to realize that when you sit down to write there are all sorts of thoughts and questions that come up for you in your mind. These thoughts act like a filter between you and getting started in your writing.
If you are asking, will anybody care about this? Does it matter? What if all of this, that I’ve been working on is not that important? Why doesn’t anyone else seem to think this is a good idea? For me, I realized I was actually wondering if I matter and why does this matter to me?
If you are asking, who am I to share these ideas? Who am I to say this? You may actually be asking for permission. For me the question became, who am I asking permission?
If you are asking, What if they don’t like it? What are they going to say about it? How are they going to pick it apart? For me, this meant I was actually looking for approval and I wondered why?
Yep. That’s the real stuff we are working on here. These are some human needs: being seen, being connected through approval, being allowed to do something with permission. And, no wonder you are distracting or avoiding writing if any of these are coming up for you when you sit down to write.
So, what do I do you ask? How do I stop having these thoughts.
The answer may seem counter intuitive.
You can begin by writing all of your thoughts down with a pen and paper and taking a look at them.
Then, be kind to yourself. It’s very natural to see them and want to fix them or make them go away. Try to hold them, like you would for a dear friend, and begin to see how thinking these thoughts make you feel.
This is the beginning of releasing the filter that is between you and your writing, or, really, anything that you want to do where there’s a resistance.
It can be challenging to do this. We may resist this process itself. We may not want to see our thoughts or we may be avoiding it, because, well, the feelings these thoughts create can be uncomfortable.
If you are looking for accountability and support to move through these thoughts that are coming up so that you can free yourself to make writing easier, pls connect with me at support@melissaeanders.com for your complimentary Discovery Call.
Melissa E Anders 
I never thought of writing down the actual thoughts. Normally, I spend the first 10 minutes or so getting the lead out, journal-style (as in, whining and complaining) then push through the “real” writing part. Next time, I’ll begin by writing a list of each thought that comes through (and hopefully I’ll be able to challenge them rather than fold up the laptop!) Thanks!
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I never thought of writing down the actual thoughts, specifically. I’ll typically whine-and-complain, journal-style, for the first 5 minutes or so to get all the crap out of my head before writing the “real” stuff. Next time I’m hung up, I’ll write down the actual thoughts, and name them. I’m curious to see what comes up by calling it out. Thank you!
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