Why I’m Taking a Writing Course to Heal Writer’s Block and Procrastination

A few days ago I enrolled in a writing course to try to work through my writing struggles.

Over the years, I’ve tried “fixing” my writer’s block and procrastination on my own. Here are a few of the methods I tried:

• 30-day writing challenges
• Timed free-writing sessions
• Morning pages
• Scheduling writing sessions in my calendar

All to no avail.

I failed.

When all else fails, seek help

I’m at a point in my life where I feel like my back is against the wall. I just turned 51, and I feel like time is running out. How much longer can I put off going after my dreams and living up to my potential? 

As excruciating as writing is for me, I feel like it is a part of me. No matter how I try to avoid it, the pull to write keeps calling to me.

There is the need to express yet I can’t release what’s inside me. Why is it so hard for me to put words together, to finish what I started? Where is this resistance coming from?

What I’m going through isn’t a simple case of procrastination. It goes much deeper than that. 

So I’m seeking professional help.

YOU Are a Writer Video Course

The YOU Are a Writer Video Course was created by writer and writing coach Lauren Sapala, who specializes in coaching “sensitive intuitive writers.” 

Sapala states on her website about the course:

YOU Are a Writer is a pre-recorded video course for writers who are struggling with severe procrastination and perfectionism issues. It is designed for writers who identify as intuitive, empathic, Highly Sensitive, and creative. It is a “right-brained” approach to dealing with severe levels of procrastination and perfectionism that draws on feminine energy, intuition, and the emotional side of life.

Lauren Sapala

Based on the above description, you can probably tell that Sapala’s approach to addressing writing struggles isn’t traditional and what we’ve come to expect in listicle blog posts all over the internet. And I like that. It’s refreshing.

We don’t need to be “fixed”, we need to heal

For those of us who suffer from severe procrastination and perfectionism, it’s not enough to treat the symptoms. Surface level “solutions” don’t have long-lasting effects. I’m proof of that. Whenever I failed, whenever I couldn’t maintain a routine and returned to my usual pattern of writing avoidance, I thought: What is wrong with me? I am beyond repair.

That line of thinking and the ensuing shame only exacerbated my procrastination and fear of writing.

Instead of offering productivity and time management hacks, the YOU Are a Writer course addresses the deeper issues that are preventing writers from creating. Issues like shame and our self-destructive belief systems.

If I said I’m looking forward to exploring my emotional and psychological wounds, I would be lying. I’d rather not “go there,” but I know that I need to start healing the hurt inside that’s keeping me from creating and moving closer to my potential.

What if I fail again?

This is possible. I may go through the writing course and see no marked improvement or change. 

One of my greatest fears is that the mean inner voice in my head will be proven right. That I am hopeless. That no matter what I try, I am doomed to lead a life that feels empty and devoid of meaning. A life that falls way short of realized dreams. 

But there’s that other voice. The inner presence that loves and doesn’t judge no matter how many times I falter. This is the voice I am choosing to heed. This is the voice of my true self.