Fear is a Friend Wanting You To Speak With Confidence

For a long time, I never thought fear had my back when it came to my career and going for my big dreams. I was always curious as to why fear would show up when I was about to step into uncertainty so I could reach my goals. I understood its value to save my life as per the classic and, in my opinion, overused example of coming face-to-face with a sabre-tooth tiger. Why, oh, why was it coming up when I wanted to grow or advance?

The last three years I have been researching this, and you may not believe it, but fear, especially in the last 12 months, has really tested me. It has been tough and really tested my Speaking Afraid method as I dug deep to use this to help me better understand fear and how I can communicate with fear confidently.

I knew if I let fear stop me, I would not progress, or at the very least, I would progress way too slowly towards my goals.

I knew if I blocked the fear or overcame it, I would experience a loss of energy and a sense of joy. I would become bored doing things that I loved doing.

So this told me, along with my research, that you and I need fear to help us realise the business lifestyle we want. We need it to some degree to move forward. We need it to complement all the emotions we are meant to experience during our journey.

I discovered that fear is our friend. It wants to help guide and navigate us towards our goals. It actually gives us a lot more choices than just freeze, flight, or flight. It wants us to know and believe in our own value and to fall in love with it just like it does. Just like joy does. Just like sadness does, so do all the other emotions that also guide us in our life journey.

I invite you to pause and reflect on this article. This paradigm shift may not be easy to see, or maybe this message made something deep inside you click in a positive way, an ‘ah-ha’ you can leap from.

This perspective is something that has helped me increase my confidence in how I speak in different settings, including self-talk.

I am excited that my book, Speaking Afraid, which goes into more details about it, will be published in August 2024.

How has this perspective impacted you? What would you like to read more about?

All the best, Susan.

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