Getting Past the Fear of Being Seen

One of the biggest fears that blocks creative souls is the fear of being seen. It may not seem like a big deal if you’ve never had this issue, but if you have, you know how difficult this can be in life. It's especially challenging if you’re trying to start a creative business.

Symptoms of the Fear of Being Seen include (but aren’t limited to):

• Wanting your work to speak for you without any connection to you as the artist.
• Hiding on social media by having no photo of yourself… anywhere. (If your cat is your profile picture – this might be you : )
• Avoiding the “About Me” page on your website and having very little or no information about yourself there.
• Anxiety about showing your work to the degree that you show it rarely and if you do, it’s to very few, select people.
• Vulnerability hang-overs every time you post or share anything.
• Avoiding sharing anything you’ve made.
• Resistance that shows up as extreme perfectionism anytime you try to put your ideas & gifts out into the world.
• Deflecting compliments.
• Not speaking up, asking questions or letting people know what you want or need.
• Confusing communication that very passively hints at what you’re trying to convey instead of coming out and saying it directly.
• In the extreme, abandoning your creativity altogether because this fear is so intense it feels too massive to confront.

The energetic core of the fear of being seen is a need for approval & a fear of judgment.  It’s particularly challenging because the measures we take to protect ourselves in this situation can lead to the the creation of what we feared in the first place. There is usually a trail of miscommunication, misunderstandings and mixed messages this fear leaves in it’s wake, and usually the person who’s self-protecting sees the lack of positive response as a confirmation that being seen isn’t safe.  (Imagine trying to engage with someone who is wearing a mask, deflecting, hiding, running away or standing you up - just to give you a mental picture of the energy this creates.)

It is an inner restriction that keeps many talented souls from sharing their work and prospering with it.  When this shows up, there are energetic soul wounds underneath. Often this fear is anchored in old traumas that keep us from seeing and valuing our gifts. We dim our light and get into patterns of making ourselves small as a protective mechanism. It takes energetic clearing and commitment to new actions to untangle this. It’s a creative misalignment and there’s inner and outer work involved in the healing process… but it can be healed. 

I wanted to share some stories of how this fear showed up for a couple of clients who took this in hand, had clearing of the energetic blocks and shifted their outer experiences in a big way.

I had an amazingly talented client with a deep desire to share her creative & healing gifts.  She had spent years learning her modalities, and working on her business.  She had all the pieces in place… and yet, her income was inconsistent and her business continued to feel like a struggle. 

Working together we zeroed in on the fact that she really didn’t feel comfortable being seen.  The thought of even putting a photo of herself on her website was painful.  She would go through the motions of doing the things she knew were necessary for her business, but there was a part of her hiding, and it made all of her work feel a little “shy” as well.

All the things she shared with the world seemed to be easy to overlook.  Her message was vague & unclear, and her marketing was confusing. She didn’t realize that she was energetically sending mixed signals. She’d put something out on social media hoping to get lots of engagement, but the energy of the post was “don’t look at me.” And that’s exactly what she was creating. No one was looking at her, and she felt extremely discouraged because it seemed like all her efforts never paid off.

After doing a Soul Realignment she discovered that she was actually gifted in being able to put her ideas into words, and she started to work with this by writing more and sharing her ideas more freely.  This had been paralyzingly difficult before, and she almost never sent newsletters or posted on her blog.

After the clearing, it started getting easier. She did one, and then another… and within 2 weeks she went from having no clients to a schedule that was filling up. It was like the energetic curtain had been pulled away and people around her could see what she had to offer.

Her natural warmth, humor and charisma was coming across in a way it hadn’t before. People could see her, and when they did, they wanted to work with her. She started to realize that she wasn’t separate from her work. Her work was an extension of her soul.

Before, she had energetic blocks that were keeping her from embracing her gifts and talents and making her extremely fearful of judgment, but once those energies were cleared she was free to create a completely different experience that was empowering rather than defeating.

This is an example of someone who had done a lot of outer work without great results. She had a website and had laid the groundwork for her business. However, there was something energetically misaligned, so all of her actions weren’t bringing her what she wanted. That’s how energy work can have a big impact. She still had to get down to writing and practice using her gifts… but when she did, the results were way more potent than she had experienced before.

Another client had the same issue with being seen, but it was showing up for her as creative gridlock.  In fact, she had been nursing a dream of being a creative writer & illustrator for almost 20 years and had never been able to make it happen.

She too learned that she had soul gifts in the area of self-expression, but she also needed to embrace her gift of self-empowerment as well.  She didn’t see a creative career as a legitimate option, and so all her gorgeous poems, illustrations, and unique perspectives were either trapped within her or hidden away. In fact, she felt so blocked that she couldn’t even find joy in her creative process anymore. It was a source of discomfort.

Her energy clearing helped get her unstuck and get her creativity flowing again. She went from being a writer who never wrote, to starting a blog and building a following.  Little by little she took actions to share her work and break the spell of limitation that kept her from living an authentic life.  She’s on her way! The energy is moving now, but she’s already gained an amazing gift because she’s rediscovered the pleasure of her creative process.

These are a couple of examples of how a Soul Realignment can have a positive effect.  Sometimes it happens right away and sometimes the shifts take a little longer to unfold, but there is always a freeing of vital life force energy that takes place. It lays the foundation for living a much more joyous and empowered life.

When it comes to the fear of being seen, a Soul Realignment or Soul Alchemy Clearing helps you get your energies aligned so you can get into action. The work you share can connect with the people you want to touch in a way that feels right and authentic for you. You show up differently to the world and the world starts to reflect something a lot safer & friendlier back to you.