Everybody is Afraid
Yes, you read that right. Everybody is afraid.
Everybody is as afraid as you are.
The mentors you admire and pray to be like. The business guru you’re subscribed to on YouTube. The Instagram influencer that makes amazing videos you wish you could like more than once. Your favourite podcast host.
They are all afraid.
The only difference is that they do not let their fears stop them dead in their tracks. They do not feed them, instead they own them.
It’s alright to be afraid.
It’s natural to be afraid.
Have you ever wondered why you feel afraid?
As humans, we love our comfort and stability and we hate unpredictability. This is why when you decide to stretch your capacity and take up a new role or start something new, you feel fear.
Fear is just resistance to change. Our mind and body processes change as a harmful event, as a threat to survival and the natural response is either to fight or flee.
American physiologist Walter Bradford Cannon described the fight or flight response as the body’s defense reaction to something we perceive as stressful.
When your body labels an event or situation as frightening, you will feel your heartbeat quicken, you start breathing faster and your body becomes really tense and ready to take an action — Fight or flight.
This is also how you feel when you’re about to do something new or embark on a very not-so-you project. At that brief moment, which can be a five second window, you either fight this physiological response by saying “I can do it and I’ll do it afraid” or you flee.
I remember when a position was open at my office. I knew I could fill the position but I was also afraid to take the job.
I didn’t want to embarrass myself. My fear kicked in and all I wanted to do was run with my tail in between my legs.
So many questions rushed through my mind. What if I underperform? What if people think I’m a fraud? What if I don’t do as well as my predecessor?
But guess what? I took the job. I talked myself out of my fears. It was a whole new terrain but I was absolutely prepared to do what it took to succeed in my new position.
I took the job afraid but I wasn’t going to remain afraid.
I started to take online courses and read blogs and websites that carried different topics on the tasks I would have to handle as I took over the reins of responsibility.
Fear is and should not be a deal breaker. You shouldn’t shy away from responsibilities and opportunities because you’re afraid.
Oftentimes, we are afraid because we do not have the necessary skill for the job but this is solvable as all skills are learnable.
There is nothing new under the sun and someone somewhere in the world has a book, an eBook, blog post(s), vlog(s), a podcast on the particular skill you seek to learn or knowledge you need to possess.
So when next you’re afraid, are you going to feed your fears or are you going to acknowledge them and take the next steps to becoming more confident?
The choice is yours.
