Mastering fear and overcoming inertia

Mastering fear and overcoming inertia

You know the situation. You would like to make changes in your career and you are about to step out and make them happen, but then something stops you.

Instead of jumping out into a new world and making the career changes that you want you begin to imagine all the things that might go wrong. You find yourself hesitating, questioning, and wondering whether you are making the right decision. 

What is happening in these instances?

Nine times out of ten, when there is inertia, fear is involved. Fear is a primal defense mechanism that we all have; it is designed to keep us safe.  Unfortunately it can also act as a barrier, telling us that our actions are too risky and preventing us from making changes in our lives.

The fear might take on different guises and say different things to us...

 -      Your family and friends will not approve

-       You won’t be able to earn enough money

-       You will lose respect amongst your peers

-       You might end up failing

Ultimately, they are all voices designed to keep us on a safe path where everything is familiar and there is minimal change.

How do we master fear and get moving again?

Mastering fear is not as difficult as it may seem, but it does take a change of mindset and practice. When you next feel inertia try the process below:

Feel the fear

1.   Acknowledge your fears:

• Hear the negative thoughts in your mind

• Accept these are your fears, try not to suppress them or push them away

• Name the emotion as fear. Just the act of acknowledging and naming fear space inside you, and distance between you and the fear helping you to process it. Research by UCLAshows that the body’s natural “fight or flight” response can be reversed just by naming our emotions

2.     Use your body to process the fear:

• Scan your body and see what sensations are present. Is there for example, tightness in your chest, a tense feeling in your neck, a headache, warm or cold feelings?

• Watch and feel the physical sensations in your body. Feeling these sensations helps your nervous system to process them

3.     Create space and time

• Go for a walk or sit still somewhere for a few moments (without a phone nearby)

Take action

1.   Counter with positive thoughts 

• List the reasons why you want to make changes

• Imagine a positive outcome, visualise what this would be like

2.   Baby steps

• Breakdown the change into smaller more manageable steps

• Focus on just acting on the first step

3.   Resource yourself

• Identify and locate resources that will help you feel more confident, this may involve for example, researching to reduce uncertainty, finding people who support you, exercising to help your nervous system process the fear…

Consider what parts of this article resonate with you, and ask yourself what hurdles you need to overcome to get started on the steps above.

When in doubt just remember to take baby steps.