Fear of Success, Failure or Both?

You find yourself poised to grab the brass ring that represents the fruits of your hard labor, but when it comes to taking the last step? Fear grips you. You freeze

Negative thoughts begin flowing in, one right after the other. Your intellectual spinning weaves an intricate web of can’t do, should not and can’t possibly.

Nothing good ever happens to me. This is a mistake. Something has to go wrong. Universe is probably playing a cruel joke on me and is going to jerk the rug out from under me at any moment. It is too good to hope for. I don’t really deserve this and when someone figures that out, I will lose everything. They’ve got the wrong person. Are you sure?

Sound familiar?

In my practice many have voiced these thoughts, and on occasion, I have experienced similar thoughts as well.

When we are afraid of success, it is often because we are afraid of losing the gift we are sharing, now that everyone is looking. The other side of being in the limelight, out there for the entire world to see, is that it puts us in a very vulnerable position; it opens us to the opinions of others, which have the potential to be unkind.

I have observed that everyone has an opinion about most things and that most opinions are based on where the person is in their life—usually changing and shifting like the tides.

Or it could be that by deed or word, you struck a nerve in asking them to look deep within. Mirroring has the potential to be painful for the mirror and/or for the reflection.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but we don’t have to accept it. However, if this opinion rings true, and we decide to take it on, it could become a useful tool. We can use it to shift and grow, ultimately empowering instead of immobilizing us.

Then there are those that fear failing for many of the same reasons. Their fear immobilizes them, keeping them locked in neutral, stalling what could be.
They haven’t learned that each endeavor is an opportunity for growth. There are do over’s. We are not locked into one channel. There are multiple paths that lay before us and all we have to do is shift.

For me, I just ask myself, what will I be missing if I don’t go for it? With that in mind, I just walk through that door and don’t look back.