Do you wonder: Is writing or writing my book important?
Especially in this time of uncertainty and fear?
Is it enough? Shouldn’t I be taking to the streets or doing something more important or impactful?
If you are feeling pulled and conflicted by these questions, you are not alone.
In the past week I’ve had several conversations about this.
One woman shared with me about how she had three different rides to go to the Women’s March and at the last minute she decided to stay home because she was called to write. She was called to go inward. She knew it was the right thing for her to do, but she was having conflicting feelings about it.
A client asked: How do I find relevance with my book amidst the drama and trauma that I am experiencing every day around what is happening in our country?
And someone else shared how she saw a post going around on Facebook that said, “If you’re feeling despair, it means you aren’t doing enough!” It made her feel small, inadequate, and hopeless.
What each of these encounters reminded me is that the number one thing that stops us from doing anything is fear of our own inadequacy.
Nothing is more powerful for shutting us down and keeping us frozen in inaction than that.
This is the fear that is currently being perpetuated.
Everything that this new administration is about is the devaluing of human life–yours and others. It is systematically valuing certain lives over other lives. It’s about a hierarchy of value.
Fear of inadequacy is the number one tool that keeps people from feeling their value and the value of others, and it is the primary way that we internalize those voices of “how we should be in order to be valuable” into our own self-hater.
Each of the people I talked to this week were experiencing this in some way because they were called to write, to go deep within to find their own ground of truth through writing, AND they were caught by feelings of that being inadequate.
If you are locked in fear or self-hate (which is not to see the value of who you are and what you are doing such as writing your book and sharing your story) then you become complicit in the status quo and even help to perpetuate it.
When you oppress yourself you leave the ground ripe for the oppression of others.
I know that for me, when I am feeling bad, not valuable, and inadequate, the last thing I am able to do is find ways to connect to and support others.
I find my way back to my own value through writing. So do each of these women.
Do you?
Story and narrative are powerful. This is becoming vividly clear. The story we tell shapes the reality and the outcomes.
Language is political. Writing is political.
You must write your life in your own language because it creates the framework for what you see and how you experience it.
This is the first step into what I call Authentic Activism.
Authentic Activism is to actively be disrupting systems that devalue and oppress human and ecological life in your own unique way.
You awaken your Authentic Activism through writing if you are called to write. Start there. Don’t deny it. Don’t feel guilty or inadequate. It is the path that will lead you where you are supposed to go.
To consciously engage in this journey of going down into the core of your life through writing is to enter the mystical dimensions of your ordinary life. This is what we have lost. We have lost touch with the wonder and mystery of our own lives.
When we touch the wonder and mystery of our own lives then we restore our value and the value of others. From there we see and have what we need to connect, to face anything, and to take action that will truly impact others.