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This Is Us
I’ve Started Naming the Voices in My Head
Talking to them helps silence my fears
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” — Albus Dumbledore
As a writer, I’ve been well prepared for the voices that manifest in the course of birthing a story. Everyone from high school writing teachers to literary giants warned me to fight inner voices that stifle creativity. Most of them describe the same critical voices: there’s the cruel one that says, Your work is shit, the one who worries, What if your boss reads this? What if your MOM does? And of course, the one who cries, Everything to say has already been said! Maybe you should put down your pen and pick up a hobby like cross-stitch instead.
The internet is littered with advice for fighting off these voices. A quick search yields a cornucopia of articles explaining the best way to handle them so you can keep creating, negative voices be damned. Easy. Simple. These voices are a normal part of the process that, while daunting, are typically overcome in the name of art.
But what happens when the negative voices aren’t confined to creative work?
A few months ago I sat in a car with my partner, heading home from a friend’s house. As soon as we…
