Writing Is More Than Self-Expression

By BookBaby author Janna Lopez

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes


I recently led a guided writing session with a client whose incredible, dynamic story stayed with me for days afterward. Using a hybrid of psychic intuition and coaching, I work with writers seeking new writing paths that circumvent overwhelm, fear, self-judgment, and criticism. We’re not just seeking writing and self-expression — we’re seeking freedom in our writing.

Table of Contents: • A need to write • A life unexpressed • Writing is a conversation • Writing and a full, realized life • Writing is more than self-expression

My clients are typically on a precipice, ready to brave the vast unknown by sharing their stories . I work with people from all walks of life, and I marvel at the diverse range of individuals who find me.
A need to write
For some, whether in fiction or nonfiction, the desire to write is more than a passing fancy. There’s a deep need to write, an inherent longing to connect with a truth within them. And through words, through writing, they unearth who they are, what they’re struggling with, and express their unique experience.
For a rare few, a path towards an unencumbered expression of Self through writing actually becomes a lifeline: a way to find purpose for existence — an internal way home.
This client grew up in a very small rural town in Iowa with a total population of 1,800 people. He’s now in his 70s, and he spent decades grappling with elements related to his sexuality that some in society don’t understand or sanction.
I’m not here to preach morals or ethics related to sexuality. What I want to share is that he told me he’s spent 99 percent of his life in hiding: in shame, in guilt, in hopelessness, in depression. Only one percent of his life has ever been lived where he’s felt free, or safe, or as if he was being himself.
A life unexpressed
I thought about how sad it is that, for any number of reasons, many of us live our lives unexpressed. It could be because of our upbringing, or religion, or economic disadvantages. It could be because of racism, abuse, or cultural expectations. Whatever the circumstance, over time and out of survival, many people hide away their own truth from who they really are.
I spent a few hours talking about writing and self-expression with this client. It is my philosophy that no matter what we choose to eventually edit or not, or content we decide to share publicly or not, the writing itself, as a conversation, belongs only to us; that writing can become an inherent, sacred, opportunistic connection to one’s Self.
Writing is a conversation
Conversations with our written words extend an ability to explore curiosities in ways that offer personal insight, meaning, or understanding. They may make us feel heard, safe, validated, and seen, even if only for our Selves, and by our Selves. As an audience of one, you become the only audience that matters.
I believe the questions we ask, or things we ponder upon a page, can become more consequential than the answers themselves. There is freedom in the allowance to just be with individual contemplations.
When someone is living an oppressed life, I imagine the loneliness, isolation, and disconnection from one’s Self could be heartbreaking. Where would I go for consolation? If I felt unsafe, constricted, or stifled from being the very parts of my Self that made me me, how would I engage with an honest life? I’d be lost, and perhaps relieved by the refuge of writing’s reliability and total assurance. Writing never leaves me.
Writing and a full, realized life
I’m not suggesting that every writing endeavor we embark upon becomes a form of liberation; but after the very intense and vulnerable guided writing session with this gentleman, I was more affirmed than ever about the potential human impact of my work: helping others discover writing freedom by unearthing the deepest parts of who they really are so they may live a full and realized life.
Through the encouragement, space, and allowance of his own expression, and allowing writing to shed light on feelings he’d kept dark — even from himself — after our session, he said he felt free. He felt exhilarated, seen, optimistic, hopeful, and clear for the first time in a long time.
It was like he’d given himself the gift of himself. It’s hard to explain the breakthrough moment of joy and relief people have when they realize that writing provides this kind of freedom and power. I’ve witnessed it hundreds of times and it’s always magic.
Writing and self-expression
Writing can be an undeniable conduit for self-expression. But it can be more. We may need our words to grapple. We may need our words to see us. We may need our words to protect us. We may need our words to show us that, like air or water, freedom — freedom’s expression — is necessary for us to be truly alive. No matter where life takes us, we’re always internally home.

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