Fear of failure or fear of success. What I learned in a photography class.
I loved taking pictures of beautiful scenes, and portraits. A photography class would reveal if I loved photography, and would photography come easy. I was afraid because I didn’t want to fail this class. After two weeks, I left the class. I felt like a failure. I couldn’t learn the concepts of f-stop, depth of field, and other technical terms. I was out of there! Tony Robbin’s the well-known motivational speaker says there is no such thing as failure only results. I discovered that taking the cIass didn’t come easy, and didn’t feel like me. Taking a photography class was an experiment, not a failure.
Fear is a good thing. Our lives depend on fear to keep us safe. Fear is an intuitive feeling when we know something is not right. Fear can also be a motivator to do something out of our comfort zone. Maybe you want to change something that is not working.I can think of a few benefits to fear.
Who was this new person when I began my journey to discover who I am?I wasn’t sure what this new person would become.The unknown is always fearful.But the experiment helped me to look possibilities for discovery.
When trying to accomplish a goal, and it feels like a major challenge are you afraid to fail or afraid to succeed? Asking this question seems to give women something to ponder when motivation seems lacking.
Meg Wheatley, a well-known author, organizational consultant, and speaker wrote an article Eight Fearless Questions discusses an interesting aspect about fear. She writes.”So, what is there to fear about fear? I don’t know the answer to that question yet. So, I just ask you to consider it. But, it seems to me a lot of fear is based on wanting to protect and defend ourselves. And a lot of fear arises when we’re so focused on ourselves that we lose our engagement with the world.”
I don’t know what fear in trying to accomplish a goal means to you. But my question to consider is what holds you back from changing something in your life, the community, in the world or doing what you love?
Success is courageously feeling the fear, take a leap of faith, try your best, and see what happens.When you experiment you explore your values and your likes then you will be well on your way to discovering your authentic self.
Blessings,
Dr. Barbara
