Failure is hard to confront.
In fact, there are more people who are afraid of failure than there are afraid of spiders. This just shows how well we want to do in everything we try to accomplish. When we fail, it can seem like the end of the world and it can seriously hurt our confidence.
This is why we need to understand that the biggest bully in our minds is actually not as big as we think.
I know a lot about fearing failure. Every time I have an opportunity to do something I fear that I will eventually fail and I won’t want to start it.
Some examples in my life of this are starting this blog and starting my new internship.
When I first started my blog I was afraid that I wasn’t going to keep up with it and that at some point I would fail. I knew that if I started and failed, I would feel hurt. I was anticipating that pain and trying to avoid it.
It was because of this that I almost didn’t start it.
When I started my blog, my fear that I wasn’t going to keep up with it faded and I was able to enjoy writing and creating my blog.
This showed me that I should put my fears in context.
I go to therapy and one day my therapist told me to ask myself if my fear of failure would affect my life.
I told him that I would be upset, but in the end, I would get over it and move on.
My fear of failure wasn’t keeping me from hurting myself. It was hindering me from starting something that I really enjoy.
I have a note on my phone that says, “this part of your life doesn’t define your whole existence.”
It helps me to understand that if I do fail, I am not going to die. I am going to move on and learn from my mistakes.
Another thing that we can do to get rid of our fear of failure is to face our fears.
When I heard that I got my internship, I was afraid that I was going to fail and that I would have to drop classes or drop my internship. I was also afraid that I wasn’t going to do well and that I wouldn’t get anything out of my experience.
But then I started going to my internship, and while I do have to reassure myself that the people I work with aren’t going to get angry at me for asking questions and asking to do stuff, I have found that I really enjoy it.
I faced my fears and was able to get past my fear of failure.
I am not saying that getting rid of your fears will be hard but I am saying that if you put your fears into perspective and face them, you will be able to reach for the stars.
