Fear Runs Deep

...most talked about topics.

It’s shown in movies as the villain to overcome, drives entire fields of psychology, and fuels endless social media content about "conquering your fears."

Despite how universal fear is, most of us don't truly understand what we're actually afraid of. 

In the widely popular book “Think and Grow Rich,” Napoleon Hill breaks fear down into 6 root causes, which he labels as “The 6 Ghosts of Fear.”

Since then, many have come up with their own reasons like fear of failure, rejection, and even fear of success. 

Recently, I heard Jenn Beninger, Founder and CEO of Genius Unlocked, condense it even further as simply a fear of change … it’s not the failure or success you fear, but the change success or failure will bring, whether good or bad.

While these insights are eye-opening, my own experience and working with clients shows there's an even deeper layer.

I would like to take it a step further and say it’s not about the outcome, but how that outcome will make you "feel."

If you tend to feel guilt, regret, embarrassment, or frustration when things don’t go well, fear will come up to protect you from those feelings.

The stronger and more intense the feelings of guilt, regret, embarrassment, or frustration, the stronger and more intense the fear will be.

In fact, fear is directly proportional to the emotional response.

If you can reduce the intensity of the response, you can reduce the intensity of the fear.

In other words, if you can reduce the intensity of the guilt, regret, or embarrassment you feel when something bad happens, the fear won't come up as strongly.

If you can't reduce the intensity, but know those feelings aren't anything to worry about, you can handle most fear.

Understanding that the outcome you fear comes down to feelings you're wanting to avoid, and not something detrimental, can be enough to move past it.

Remember, awareness is the first step, simply seeing this pattern can weaken fear's hold. 

However, if you'd like to go deeper and reduce or remove the guilt, regret, or embarrassment response, so the fear doesn’t come up altogether, I'd love to help - click here to learn more...