Wednesday Journaling Writes: Loosening Fear’s Cold Grip

One particularly effective use of journaling is to counter fear.

Everyone has fears, and mostly we learn to balance them with large doses of self-confidence and blind faith.

There are times when fear enlarges and takes over awareness and the balance tips towards danger. We need to act quickly to restore equilibrium. Whether such fear is credible or not, it will kill us if we don’t destroy it first.

We may let any fear become so enlarged, all out of proportion, to the point where our happiness if not very existence is threatened. Fortunately, with some concentrated journaling we can right (write!) ourselves again.

Maybe you fear the next step in your growing up, such as high school, or marriage, or retirement. Maybe you fear disease or poverty. Maybe you are afraid of ridicule, or Thanksgiving with the family, or your upcoming performance review. It’s pretty much the same whatever the object. Fear depresses and disables us.

On the positive side, fear strikes up respect in our hearts and minds. We notice when we’re afraid, we perk up and start looking for solutions. We seek to identify the origin of the fear and to placate it. If I’m afraid that I’ll be late, you’ll see me running, worrying about displeasing my liaison.

But otherwise, fear brings few benefits to our life and health. Fear shows up when inner strength is weak. Because of this, it’s wise to curb if not obliterate fear at every opportunity.

It’s an endless cycle. The weekends are happy adventures into your life and loves, but by Wednesday every week you are once again buried in responsibilities, deadlines, and yes, fears.

Would you like to break this up-and-down cycle? Then get good at zapping your fears as soon as they arise – even on Wednesdays.

Getting good at zapping your fears means using your journal to document and interact with them, coming to mutual understanding.

When you face your fears this way, writing through their ins-and-outs, transcendence becomes a possibility.

1. Either dedicate a notebook to fears or devise a tag that will show the specific journal post as one devoted to that subject.
2. Begin with daily reflections on any moments you felt fearful in the past 24 hours. Describe them briefly and comment on your emotional perspective from where you stand now.
3. After a few weeks, find a pocket-sized notebook plus pen and use it as soon as possible after the moment that you feel fear. Does that moment occur when your teacher announces a test? When your boss asks to see you in his office? When you see a certain person (maybe a bully or a lover) or experience a certain thing (maybe a roller coaster ride or a blood test)?
4. Record and/or express freely. Where does the fear come from, precisely? What does it feel like? What do you want to do, impulsively? What do you want to do, rationally? Draw a sketch of your fear.
5. Later, read these writings and then write in your regular fear journal your impressions of the origins, rationality, and eventual outcome of the fearful experience.

Certainly not all fears can be explained, wished, worked, or journaled away. Nonetheless, we tend to let fears dominate when they’re often just imposters. We can figure out if they’re fakers or not by turning to journal writing.

Even if you can’t obliterate a fear, you can lessen it considerably by offering it respectfully to journaling’s light.

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