Fear of Writing

There is a condition that some people are afflicted by - a fear of writing, which for some odd reason is called "graphophobia." (Yes, my gut instinct is to think of an irrational fear of graphs, algebra, or Excel sheets, but no on all counts.) Indeed, graphophobia is an actual thing that hangs people up and makes them resist putting words to the page. What causes this? It's not easy to say, but in most cases it has nothing to do with actually writing/typing words and everything to do with fear of something else. 

As we know, fear is a terrible monster that can make us act irrationally when it takes over. We all understand general fear, which simply paralyzes us from doing that thing we want, but in the case of graphophobia, it's a very specific action that triggers this response. And sometimes, we need to take a very rational approach to try and figure out what is setting off this irrational fear before we can do a thing about it.

Think about this. Have you ever gone to sleep while being genuinely afraid? Probably not, and if you did fall asleep just out of total fatigue, it was probably not the most pleasant sleep you've ever had. Chances are your mind ran about, wildly careening between different thoughts and outcomes that the fear-based action could bring about. Fear of tornadoes? In your mind, you are absolutely positive that your house will be leveled by a tornado (welcome to my childhood). Fear of abandonment? Yep, you will wake up alone. Fear of writing? That's a whole bunch of horrible outcomes, right? Right?

Actually, what is the worst thing that can come from writing something down? Perhaps some magical thinking might have people believe that what they write becomes the truth, but that's venturing into a very irrational thought process. No, writing things down doesn't really have repercussions. Writing things down puts words on a page - that's it. Now, it might be personally challenging to see certain words written before you. People who deal with trauma by writing down their experiences often fear reading what they wrote, but that's an issue of confrontation rather than the writing process itself.

When someone says they have a fear of writing their stories, I often make a simple suggestion. I ask them to think about the worst possible scenario that can come from them writing something down - just from the writing process - and ask if that, in itself, is scary. Usually they admit that the writing part isn't the hang-up, and the real issue is what might happen if people read their works, judge them, etcetera. Those are valid issues in their own right, but for now, this gives them the freedom to write things down with a personal liberty. They get over their "fear of writing" and actually explore their creative world, while addressing those issues that might be the real hang-ups in their lives.

In general, I try to follow this premise regarding any fear: If you can get comfortable with the worst realistically possible outcome of an action, you free yourself of the fear and can focus on committing to that action. To paraphrase Marcus Aurelius, "Don't fear death, fear not living." And once you no longer fear something, please start writing about it.