Conquering Your Fear of Change

If change makes you nervous, know that you are not alone. Fear is a common reaction to change. We often fear change because we cannot anticipate the outcome. We want to stay in our comfort zone and don’t want to upset our equilibrium.  Change can be uncomfortable. Many people also perceive that change will cause them to lose something.

Everyone has different perceptions of fear.  When you experience fear, it is important to adjust your mindset. The Acronym Finder website has several entries for fear.

✅ False Evidence Appearing Real

✅ Forget Everything and Run

✅ Face Everything and Rise

 To understand your perceptions about fear, ask yourself some questions:

✅ Are you able to put evidence into the correct context? In other words, can you maintain the discipline to focus on understanding the issues instead of blindly reacting in response to fear? 

✅ Can you manage your emotions productively or are you negatively reacting to the stress you feel?

To what degree are you focused on the things that you can control or influence? Or are you spending more time worrying about things that you can do nothing about?  This is a common source of fear and stress; and it is just not a productive use of your energy.

The words, “what if” are very dangerous when it comes to fear. Fear often comes from questioning such as, “What if I fail? What if it doesn’t work?” You need to stop questioning, “what if” and begin asking yourself more actionable questions that provide a sense of control such as:

✅ What am I going to focus on?

✅ What do I have (instead of what am I missing)?

✅ What can you control (instead of what you can’t control)?

Keep your vision in the future but your actions to face change in the present. Focus on what you can control. You can conquer your fears.  You have a choice, you are empowered.

 1) You can control, remove and install new thoughts. You can’t necessarily control the change, but you can control what you think and how you act.

 2)   Reframe fear as excitement. Fear gives you a natural adrenaline boost and your body will often react in a similar way when you are excited. What if you told yourself that your feeling is excitement, not fear?  After all, some of the most amazing things that happen to us would not be possible without experiencing some fear or at least trepidation.  George Adair once said, “Everything you have ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear.”  If you reframe how you think about fear, it will no longer paralyze you.

 3)   Quiet your inner voice. If you have an inner voice telling you not to act, confirm whether the danger is real or in your head. Look for real evidence. Remember your fearful self is trying to protect you but it often does this with false evidence appearing real. Don’t let your lizard brain tell you what to think.

 4)   Pay attention to how and what you feed your mind. It is important to monitor your outside influences. For example, if watching or reading the news makes you anxious, why are you spending several hours each day doing this? Limit your exposure to the influences and people that create anxiety. Counter the negative exposure with more positive influences – for example, listening to an uplifting podcast or Ted Talk.

 5)   Write your own story. Fear is nothing more than a story that you tell yourself. Transform the story and you will change your life for the better.