Fear: It Will Hold Us Back Every Time

Fear can be quite tenacious. When our fear response engages, it alerts us to danger; it cautions us against movement forward. Which, hey, works great if there is a bear in our path! But perceived fears will trigger the same type of response, which can make us feel stuck or in limbo.

We often inherently know when a decision has to be made that will elicit some much needed movement but we hesitate. Perhaps it is a relationship we need to leave, perhaps we feel unsatisfied with our job, perhaps we hesitate to put some boundaries into place, or find ourselves procrastinating about making changes.

In any case, we fear the uncomfortable and lean into the familiar; we allow fear to hold us back. But as frightening as change can sometimes feel, we know that movement is essential for growth.

And so we can lean into curiosity as a way to temper fear. When we are curious, we are not making a decision, we are simply gathering information. With job dissatisfaction, for example, we might look at questions such as: “Are there ways that I can make my job more enjoyable? Am I able to put up some boundaries at work that will allow me to feel more in control? Is there a course that I can take while working that might help me advance my career? Have any of the people in my life experienced similar situations and how did they cope with it? What other types of jobs are out there?”

By allowing ourselves to be curious, we allow our rational brain to weigh in. When we simply gather information, we also gather strength and courage along the way. This process will often allow us to push past the fear and make the decision; hence stepping into a greater sense of well being and contentedness. Sounds like a good place to be 🙂

Photo credit: http://Photo by Ricky Kharawala on Unsplash

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