Life can be challenging, so you must learn to be stronger than your fear.
Whether it is fear of failure, fear of being alone or some other kind of fear, we must all learn to conquer our fears so that we can move forward. If we don’t, we become stuck. Eventually, we begin to withdraw, and our self-confidence begins to erode.
The main difference between the people who succeed and those who don’t are that the ones who make it are the ones who face their fear. The misconception often is that those who succeed aren’t afraid of anything. The reality is that they meet their fear head-on and move past it.
Let’s look at a few different types of fears:
Fear of Failure
If you are afraid of failing, you will never move forward. You will become stuck where you are and spiral downward. One can never reach their destination if they are standing still, going nowhere. Sometimes the best part of the journey is the unplanned side trips.
Knowing and accepting that failure is possible, one can begin to plan for it. Take time to think about all the possible ways things can go wrong and then figure out what to do if they should occur to move around and through them. This is simply good contingency planning. If and when something goes wrong, you will be ready for it and can take immediate action to rectify the issue.
When you are ready to handle failure, it is not as scary as when you aren’t. Indeed, we don’t know what we don’t know, so it is sometimes hard to plan for it. You can, however, ask others who have tried what you are attempting and see if they can offer advice and give you an idea of possible pitfalls along your path.
Acknowledge and accept that failure is possible, but move forward anyway, armed with knowledge and confidence in yourself.
Fear of Success
Some people are just as afraid of success as they are of failure. This usually comes from the fact that they cannot see past their immediate goals.
You don’t always need to know what is next, but you do need to expect that there is more for you after you accomplish your goal. Whether you are learning something new, vying for a promotion, or starting your own business, you will find that once you hit that target, you will have more confidence. When you have more confidence, you are willing to try new things.
Success is part of our journey. It is not the final destination unless you choose it to be. There are many things we do in life, and they all are worth striving for. Only you know what will make you happy. Never forget that just because you realized one dream doesn’t mean you can’t dream again.
Don’t be afraid of what comes next. Enjoy your journey and your success when you achieve it. Once you have it well in hand, give yourself permission to either grow your dream or chase another. You have an infinite capacity for growth.
Fear of Being Alone
Some people don’t spend enough time with themselves, and worse, never learn to love themselves. In their fear of being alone, they sometimes rush into a relationship.
People who don’t like being by themselves may look for happiness in the wrong type of person. They end up in bad relationships and with people who don’t value them for who they are.
It would be best if you learned to like yourself. The only way to do this is to spend time in your own company. Figure out what you love to do and then do it. Whether it be painting, reading, writing, crocheting, working on cars, etc., you can find several things to do by yourself. Make sure they are soothing.
If there are things you don’t like about yourself, you can change them. I am not talking about physicality, although that is something you can work on as well. What I am talking about is your internal love for yourself. If there are traits you don’t like, you can change them. We can always become better individuals as a whole, and those changes will spill over into all areas of your life.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not suggesting that you have to be alone. What I am saying is that you don’t always have to be with someone else. Learn to enjoy your own company and pamper and love yourself as you would a cherished friend.
There are a ton of different fears and phobias, but these are some of the top ones. If you want to succeed in anything, be it a career, relationship, or life goals, you cannot be afraid to go for it, you must be stronger than your fear.
Free inspirational or motivational posts can be found on the inspirational page of Leslie’s website.