How Creative Fear Can Hold Us Back From Blogging Without Boundaries

A conversation I have over and over again with my friends, fellow bloggers, and my coaching clients is the power creative fear can hold over us. It can make us put up boundaries between ourselves and our creative process, and ultimately hold us back from really creating the work we feel called or inspired to do. Fear, doubt, and creative overwhelm are so common in our day to day lives that I think it’s so easy for us not to see how much it’s taking away from our process and our work. 

Something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is the idea of blogging without boundaries. Something beautiful happens when you stumble across a blog where the creator behind it has poured so much of themselves into their space that it becomes an extension of them and their creativity. That wall that we can put up between our fear and that place where we create without boundaries is something I fight against every day, as once we overcome it we can then create without self-imposed limits and restrictions. 

I’m learning that if my work isn’t leaving me feeling a little out of my comfort zone, it isn’t the work that I want to be doing. Today I want to talk through four different ways that creative fear can hold us back from blogging without boundaries, and hopefully open up the conversation for how we can work to move past it and create without limits and fear holding us back. 

We make ourselves small Creative fear keeps us so small. It’s that voice that tells us that we’re not good enough to push ourselves, to try something new, and embrace a brand new challenge. The fear of critics and judgement and not succeeding on first try makes us run away from our dreams and stay in our comfort zone where we will struggle to develop, evolve, and grow. 

I’ve been reading Daring Greatly by Brené Brown recently and she talks often about the idea of showing up and being seen. This really spoke to me and reminded me of the fact that if we don’t show up and be seen, and if we don’t create even when we might fail and be judged, we’ll never truly create the work we feel inspired to do. 

We hold back our opinions How many times have you ever gone back into a post and taken out a sentence or two where you really shared your opinion or stance on a subject? Or is that just me? I used to do this all the time and I really held back my opinion as the fear of polarising people and attracting critics and judgement overwhelmed me. Once I started to move past this, I found myself making deeper connections, feeling more fulfilled by the work I was creating, and ultimately more inspired to continue pushing myself to learn and grow. 

When we censor ourselves, we water down our work and our ideas to a place where they no longer really feel like ours. There’s something to be said for tact and knowing when and where is the right place and time to share an idea or an opinion, but if we hold ourselves back every single time we share we’ll struggle to really feel connected to the work we are creating. 

We doubt our ideas Some of my favourite posts have been the ones I was petrified to write and share. So many of us doubt our ideas so often that we struggle to overcome that fear and just create anyway. Sometimes we have to experiment, and even get it wrong from time to time, if we want to really dig deep and do the work we feel called and inspired to create. 

Creative fear holds us back from being brave, taking new risks, and creating without boundaries. The rules and limitations we put on ourselves are rooted in this fear, and I think that for so many of us our best ideas are just waiting for us to find the courage to run with them, even if they feel scary and big. 

We distort the truth Creative fear has a way of really shifting our perspective and taking us to a place in our minds that isn’t always rooted in truth. Those things we say over and over again to ourselves:

  • You’re not good enough.
  • You will fail.
  • You will be laughed at.
  • You’re not ready yet.
  • Other people are already doing this, and they’re doing it better than you ever could.

They hold us back from not only doing the work, but also feeling good about the work we're doing. I think once we feel confident, motivated, and brave in our creative endeavours and blogging process we then have the ability to really step things up and have some serious impact and reach with the words and ideas we share. Once we recognise what fears and self doubts are holding us back, I think we are then more able to move past them, overcome the fear, and create alongside it without boundaries or limits. 

Do you struggle with creative fear? Do you ever find that it can hold you back from blogging without boundaries? 

How We Can Work Together

Be Brave With Your Blog Four Week Creative Coaching is for anyone who wants to overcome creative fear, find purpose and fulfilment in their online space, and feel confident and focused in their blogging process. Find out more here. 

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Jen Carrington