Your relationship to your journaling practice (even if you don’t journal yet) is a mirror. It can show you a lot about your relationship to life.
If you’re someone who’s letting the fear of what other people would think if they read your journals keep you from doing something you know would be good for you (*cough* journal *cough*), then you’re probably letting fear of being seen run the show in other areas in your life too.
And it’s probably in heavier hitter areas, like:
finally getting out of that unhealthy relationship
leaving that job you hate and starting your soul-led business
..and whatever came to your mind as you were anticipating me giving you the next example
Let that land.
If you can’t even put your feelings, hopes, dreams, wishes, thoughts, and frustrations on a piece of paper, how are you ever going to embody the realest most authentic version of you in the real world?
How are you going to show up as the person you were meant to be?
Unfortunately, you probably won’t.
The only reason I know this is because I’ve been there.
When I go back and read my journals from 6 years ago, I was so scared someone would read them.
So much so that in the darkest times of my life, my journals were some of the most positive and upbeat entries I’ve written since I started journaling back in 2018.
It wasn’t until I started to be honest with myself that I could start actually living as me. The hippy, tree-hugging, universe-loving, me.
Now that you see your fear of being seen could be what’s holding you back, you get to change it and let the world know the real, authentic, amazing you!
Awareness is the first, incredible, massive leap towards that life (yay)!
Here are 2 simple steps you can take to start moving towards showing up as the real you:
Awareness: Start to notice where this fear of being seen is showing up in your life. Without judgement, just observe and take notice of all the different, sneaky ways this fear is controlling you.
Integration: Practice being seen and teaching your nervous system that it is safe to be seen. Start in low stakes areas, like in your journal or with someone you trust. The next time someone asks you what you want to eat for dinner, instead of "I don't know", toss out an idea that sounds good to you!
That’s it. Just start there and watch the magic unfold!
Since changing my relationship with being seen in the world (authenticity for short), I have lived more life than I did the other 29 years of my life combined! Life has been more scrumptious, more real, more loving, more connected, more colorful than I even know was possible.
And you can experience this too.
P/S: If you want a step-by-step approach to your journaling practice that will help you do this, check out this free training on the conscious journaling framework. It was designed specifically to help you in situations like this!