I had a bit of a revelation the other day that I wanted to share with you.  It is to do with fear, the fear that seems to prevent us humans from doing things.

I remember when I was studying for my GCSEs, I was chatting with a 6th former and I looked at the work she was doing, it could have been Chemistry or Maths as it was one of the subjects that I studied.  I remember being completely freaked out by what I was seeing; I thought that I would never be able to study that – it’s far too hard!  Anyway, I didn’t have much of a choice with the subjects I studied as at the time I wanted to be a Vet, so I chose my A-Level subjects accordingly.  So I continued my studies and worked through the AS year, then went into the U6th and studied the A-Level work, and took the exams.  I’m not saying Maths or Chemistry A-Level was easy – far from it.  But looking back, I now realise that nothing was beyond me – I needn’t have been scared of that work when I was 16.

This next story is a little closer to today.  When I decided that I wanted to train to become an accountant, I very nearly backed out when I realised how scared I was of the possibility of working with one of the Big4 accountancy firms.  It was what I wanted, but the thought of it frightened me.  I don’t know what it was that was so scary, maybe the fear of failure, or the fear that I wasn’t good enough to work in a Big4 firm even if I was offered a job, or maybe I was scared of commitment.  I think the most likely, or at least the most influencing, was that I was scared of such a huge change in who I am.  I was applying to join the Royal Navy before deciding on accountancy – there’s a huuuuge difference!  A life of military uniform and adventurous training vs putting on business clothes in the morning and going into an office.  Now I realise that it isn’t such a huge change in who I am – this part of me was always there – wanting get get dressed up smartly and help people with their business problems.

I suppose the underlying message in all of this is that whatever decision it is that you have to make, whatever it is that you want to do, just start taking the steps towards it.  Nothing will happen in such a big jump that you can’t cope with what is happening.  You aren’t going to wake up tomorrow at your destination and have to adapt to your new situation.  You will wake up tomorrow having taken one small step towards your aim and you will have time to adjust before taking the next step.

Getting that new job will have a series of slightly scary things along the way, but they will happen one at a time, not all at once.  So go on, take that first step toward the the thing you always wanted and don’t be afraid of it – it is one little step!

It’s not a long post today, but I think I’ve got the message across.  What do you fear at the moment – is there anyway we can help?

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Posted in Personal Thoughts by Elyse No Comments Yet