Prompt: For Facing Invisible Mountains & What Seems Impossible

Pen & Mend Journal Prompt (No. 74) Moving from What Feels Impossible to the Possible

Welcome to this month’s Pen & Mend Prompt! Before we get to it, please take a moment to note these upcoming virtual events — I’d love for you to join whatever feels most supportive to you.

• **UPDATE: October’s Pen & Mend Writing Room + AfterWords Conversation
  🗓 Friday, October 17th at 9 AM - 10 AM PT

  **PLEASE NOTE: We will only be meeting for 1 hour this month; we’ll decide how we want to use the time at the beginning of the session.

• November’s Write Your Grief Journaling Session
  🗓 Wednesday, November 12th at 9 AM PT

Full access to this prompt — as well as to the Pen & Mend Writing Room and AfterWords Conversation — is reserved for paid subscribers. All are welcome to join by upgrading to a paid subscription right here on Substack. Write Your Grief sessions are open to everyone and require separate registration.

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an oil pastel mini-painting of Mount Shasta I created in my sketchbook in 2024

Facing Invisible Mountains & What Seems Impossible

Several times this month, I’ve felt like I’ve hit a wall. I’ve felt blocked. Stuck. Paralyzed. Tired. I’ve been walking along at a leisurely pace and suddenly, out of nowhere, a mountain¹ appeared in front of me. And let me tell you, I’ve exhausted myself trying to move the mountain out of my way.

I began to wonder, “What if the mountain is me?”²

What if the paralysis, the sadness, the self-doubt, the defeat are a result of my inner narratives creating the mountain before me?

If I can’t do the thing I want to do, if the thing I want to happen isn’t happening, if the situation I feared the worst has happened, if the future I’m imagining feels overwhelming—then what?

What are we to do when whatever we’re facing or longing for feels impossible?

This month’s 2-part prompt explores this question.