What stops us from writing?

After a successful launch of the Klingspor Museum exhibition about notebooks, diaries and bullet journals, visitors are still shy to write in my book. Some people have told me that it is so beautiful that they don't dare write in it. Some others told me that they are waiting the right time. I've also been told that they were waiting to have the right pen.

Even though we had thought through the whole design with Jennifer Tytgat (Meaningful Design Paris), to make sure people would feel comfortable to write inside. Between the layout, the quality of the paper and the way it opens up fully, all by design to entice writing and introspection. But it seems that "Unmasked, Loved and Empowered", the story-guided-introspection-notebook can still be for some "too much of a book" to be written in.

That being said, it feels there is also another factor: self-censorship. Or more to the point: are my thoughts, stories, insights, musings, relfections, ideas etc. "good enough" to be written in a beautiful notebook? Why do we judge ourselves so hard? Why are we not expressing ourselves more freely, even to ourselves, on paper? Aren't our own thoughts valuable enough to ourselves to be put on paper?

Even if I can't answer this question for everyone, I would like to encourage anyone who is looking for more authenticity in their lives to jot down (or even just voice out loud to yourself) their own thoughts on paper for themselves.