The Unlikely Predator

Identity thieves and poisonous personalities as a writer/creative

Recently, an old pattern erupted… one I felt I had long ago shifted, or more honestly, a pattern I felt had healed.

After sitting with my anger, it felt appropriate to take action on a situation where a boundary had been repeatedly crossed; this action was sure to stir the pot, yet I also intuitively knew it was the right thing to do. The circumstance is something I don’t feel many writers/creators talk about as often, so I will unpack a few layers here.

However, first, let me share a personal note on my perspective as a writer.

I shape words and breathe life into concepts, hoping to inspire those who resonate with my style, just as I have been inspired by others:

Carl Jung, Marion Woodman, James Hillman, Toni Wolff, Edgar Allan Poe, Ann Burgess, Mary Shelley, Ann Rule, M. Night Shyamalan, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, and many more….

Yet each one of these individuals has their own identity, and I do not try to be them, write like them, or regurgitate their words.

As I write, pain, turmoil, and turbulence are channeled through my perspective, allowing me to focus on my authentic voice intentionally.

Beneath my impulse to write lives a deeper purpose, a desire to transmute poison into a useful, sometimes medicinal, expression.

It takes courage to do this consistently, and even more so in such a public manner when you publish something for the world to judge (a book, a blog, a social media post, Substack, etc.).

As a writer/creator, one aspect that is not discussed enough is how we are forced to create boundaries when someone steals our work and/or creative identity, or when a predatory personality enters our program and attempts to consume and then falsely impersonate or disseminate our content to make it look like they put the work in.

As writers and creators, we unfortunately sometimes have someone enter our space (a membership, program, class, workshop, retreat, etc.), and just like any toxin or poison, they can contaminate the environment.

Now, I have been told to develop a thicker skin if I’m to remain in the industry, yet for over 25 years, I have watched people enter into a space under the guise of a client, student, or colleague… and slowly dismantle or destroy it.

I will not grow a thicker skin; instead, I choose to acknowledge the poisonous and predatory nature of creative identity thieves and poisonous personalities.

Let me be clear: before I arrived at the conclusion that this was worthy of discussion, I first needed to clarify what was erupting within my shadow.

Because I do my work. When I’m triggered, activated, and furious… I sink into it.

I question my response. I wonder about my reaction. I face the challenging aspects that suck to acknowledge. I unwind the story. I feel what persists and refuses to be suppressed further.

I get honest about my contribution to the situation and the ways I enabled or enforced an unhealthy attribute. When I’m not sure, or sense there’s more, I take my pattern to my analyst. Even when I think I've healed it, she helps me uncover more.

Together, we dig in, I’m held accountable, and I make the appropriate amendments. It’s a long game process.

It's humbling when that happens, when you think it's settled and an old ghost has been put to rest, only to resurface with a different cloak.

I attempt to do better each time, and eventually the energy dissipates, and when it doesn’t, the work continues.

Yet there are times when there is a wolf in the woods pretending to be something other than what it is. And no amount of shadow work can change someone else’s behavior.

I use fairy tales, myths, and metaphors to reflect the shadow, expose patterns, and reveal potentials. This gives us a little distancing from the people and situations we unknowingly tend to project onto.

When we attune the mind to the hidden symbolism of a certain trait, we can see ourselves in it more clearly. As we become more familiar with our defenses, we also become aware of how they are trying to keep us safe.

This is important because in the fields of spiritual and personal development, we sometimes use bypassing language and concepts to unconsciously avoid further exploration. We try to see the best in people and focus on cultivating a ‘high vibration.’

Little Red Riding Hood did not think her way into the forest; she was not at fault for attracting the wolf, yet she was existing in the space where the wolf prowls and it was up to her to choose the next course of action.

We take the higher road, putting up with a lot of terrible behavior, sometimes creative thievery, sometimes a predatory personality.

It is more acceptable these days to address these themes when we consider sexual predators… But what about predators who operate through manipulation and deceit for different purposes?