Anais Nin once wrote, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage“. In current uncertain times or otherwise, have you been so afraid of failing at something that you decided not to try it at all again? Be it losing your job or livelihood or something precious? Or has a fear of failure meant that, subconsciously, you undermined your own efforts to avoid the possibility of a larger failure? Many of us have probably experienced this at one time or another.
The fear of failing can be immobilizing – it can cause us to do nothing, and therefore resist moving forward. But when we allow fear to stop our forward progress in life, we’re likely to miss some great opportunities along the way.
In this article, we’ll discuss the fear of failure: What it means? What causes it? And how to overcome it to enjoy true success at work, and in life?
What is Failure?
It’s almost impossible to go through life without experiencing some kind of failure. We understand that life is full of problems and fears of the unseen. People who do so probably live so cautiously that they go nowhere. Put simply, they’re not really living at all. But, the wonderful thing about failure is that it’s entirely up to us to decide how to look at it. We can choose to see failure as “the end of the world,” or as proof of just how inadequate we are. Or, we can look at failure as the incredible learning experience that it often is. Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we’re meant to learn.
Most of us will stumble and fall in life. Doors will get slammed in our faces, and we might make some bad decisions. But imagine if Michael Jordan had given up on his dream to play basketball when he was cut from that team. Imagine if Richard Branson had listened to the people who told him he’d never do anything worthwhile without a high school diploma. Let’s think of the opportunities we miss if we let our failures stop us. Failure can also teach us things about ourselves that we would never have learned otherwise. Often, valuable insights come only after a failure. Accepting and learning from those insights is key to succeeding in life.
If we’re longing to expand our lives by going after our dreams, here are 05 ways to overcome fear which may be keeping us stuck.
- Shed Some Light on Your Fear
As we do in darkness: Switch on the light, pinpoint the fear that’s plaguing us the most – about our body, finances, family life, career, dreams, etc., and hold it up to the light of our awareness. Let’s ask ourselves: Is this thought really true? Can I know for sure? Is there another way of looking at this? What would the highest version of me say about this?
Remember, the word thought is not synonymous with the word truth. Our thoughts are not necessarily true or important and we don’t have to take them so seriously. Think of them like passing clouds in the sky – they come and go. Our true self is the ever-present observer who watches our fear-based thoughts as they pass by.
- Rephrase Fear as Excitement
To our body and nervous system, fear and excitement are almost indistinguishable. So, feel the fear as excitement runs up and down our body. The most successful people in the world don’t feel fear less than everyone else – they just don’t interpret fear as a stop sign. They feel the fear and proceed further because they want their dream life more than they want to avoid the feeling of fear.
- Right Choice of Words
The phrase This too shall pass is a great mantra to use whenever we feel fear rising in our body making us hesitant to take action.
It can help us remember that fear is a natural and temporary response in our body that rises and falls away like a wave in the ocean. When we realize it will pass, we don’t have to feel so afraid of experiencing it anymore.
- Look at the Bigger Picture
Fear makes us feel uncomfortable but, in most cases, it won’t really harm us – but attempting to avoid the experience of fear will because we are robbing ourselves of the chance to experience the deep satisfaction that comes with listening to our heart and soul and creating a better life full of passion and purpose.
Let’s check in with our future selves. How shall we feel a year from now if we don’t take action towards our dreams? How about five or ten years from now? Remembering the bigger picture of our precious life can help us step out of our comfort zone and into the unknown.
- Anchor in the present moment
The feeling of fear in our body is often triggered by thoughts in our mind – we are worrying about what may happen in the future, or we are creating our own negative stories about something that happened in the past – when nothing is actually threatening or disturbing us in the present moment.
We can take our focus away from our thoughts by switching our focus to what is going on in the present moment. Let’s pay attention to the nature around us, and notice the sensation of the air on our skin or the clothing against our body. Take a few deep breaths in and out, count your blessings, and show gratitude for what we have. Feel the energy in our hands and feet. We will immediately experience a sense of relief, relaxation, and growing inner peace. We can use the present moment as a safe haven all throughout the day, whenever our mind is triggering fear.
Final Thoughts
If we take anything away outside of these steps, I hope it is to pursue our dreams now, despite our fears. The feeling we get from actually going from dreaming to doing is such an amazing one. We shall learn, grow, and gain confidence as we take these steps to overcome our fears and pursue our dreams. Let’s make ourselves a priority. We can create any type of life we want for ourselves. And while it may feel scary to make big changes, fear doesn’t have to stop us. Start taking steps right now to turn our dreams a reality.
