Does the thought of facing your fears fill you with dread? Do you get physical or emotional reactions to facing fears that leave you feeling far from fab about yourself? You’re not alone, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Andrea Watts of UnglueYou has some fab advice on facing your fears.
When your fears are stopping you from feeling fab about yourself, you’re going to want to do something about it. I’m talking about the kind of fear that stops you going after your dreams; those things you want in life. Because when this happens it affects how you feel about yourself. Lack of confidence creeps in and the negative self-talk begins.
So what can you do about it?
Name and shame your fears
One of the first things you can do is try and identify your fears. You can do this by noticing what your thoughts are saying to you. Noticing your thoughts takes practice but mindfulness can really help with this. Any thought that is negative is likely to be rooted in fear. Although normal, these doubting self-critical thoughts aren’t helpful. Often subtle they’ll suggest you’re not ready, able, skilled, practiced or good enough. Sometimes they’ll even tell you you’re not loved enough to achieve your dreams. You know the ones I’m talking about. Put simply that’s fear talking. You’ll find our FREE guide ‘Find and face your fears’ helpful in identifying areas in your life where fear is limiting you.
Once you’ve identified them, your fears begin to lose control over you. So, instead of being restricted by them you can name and shame them for what they are, liars. For example, when you notice a thought instructing you not to ask a question in a group you’ll realise, ‘You’re fear of feeling embarrassed.’ Because you know what you’re dealing with you can choose whether to act based on the fear of embarrassment or not. As you make this decision, remember fearing something may happen, is completely different to knowing it will. Your thoughts are not facts. Once you understand this you’ll experience a gradual shift in your response to fearful thoughts. Until eventually their negative impact on your behaviour is negligible.
Visualising victory
A powerful antidote to fear is hope. But sometimes hope is hard to hold on to. However, through collaging for self-development, you can be reminded of your hopes and dreams; in a way that encourages action and prevents fear from taking hold.
When you work with me we’ll work with your intuition. Using images to unlock your unconscious thinking. In doing so you’ll realise you have a wealth of untapped knowledge and wisdom available to you. By the end of the consultation your unique strengths, gifts, skills and experience will be represented in your collage. Recording permanently and visually just how truly fab you are.
This creative activity is one I’ve successfully used with clients over the years. Exploring and expressing how and who they want to be, as they move towards they’re hopes and dreams. The beauty of using collage is that no artistic skill or previous experience are needed. There is no right or wrong, you’re simply using a different, visual way to express yourself.
Visualising how and who you want to be, moving towards what you’d like to achieve; creates emotional connections to your hopes for the future. This is important because your emotions affect your decision making. So forming this emotional connection makes your dreams easier to stick to, come what may. Also, because images are persuasive, as seen in advertising. When fear threatens to stall your progress, which it will, the images in your collage will serve to inspire and motivate you to keep going.
Read other women’s success stories after creating their collage.
The feel fab factor
This shift of focus from the fear that’s holding you back, to using your emotions and values (your how and who) as the driver for your aspirations creates a motivational pull. So now you’re tapping the desire to be a certain way and achieve something; rather than trying not being a particular way. You’re driven by meaningful desires based on your values, inspiring action in a bid to get closer to your goal or dream.
Now, what was previously seen as an obstacle is an opportunity. It’s less about facing your fears and more about moving one step closer towards the life you desire. When you flip it on its head like this, your energy shifts and you can feel truly fabulous about yourself and your achievements.
Another benefit of these types of motivational goals is they tend to be long term. As once accomplished they can serve as the foundation for your next dream, or step towards an existing goal.
Also because you are now aware of your how and why, and have introduced mindfulness into your life, you’re working from a place of being, rather than doing. This has enormous benefits for your health and wellbeing. Increasing your feel fab factor!
You can face your fear head on, feeling fab and proud of yourself. Knowing that how and who you want to be is stronger than any fears, providing you with the focus and passion you need to achieve your goals.
Why Meditation Makes You So Much Happier
For anyone wanting to know more about why meditation makes you so much happier, this infographic from Positive Health Wellness on the science behind why meditation makes you so much happier may be useful:
About UnglueYou®
Our purpose is to see you overcome challenges and fulfil your potential. To achieve this you will need one or all of the following: increased self-awareness, motivation and behaviour change. Not an easy journey. By using images in collage we offer you a powerful, creative and engaging tool to unlock and release your potential. Available as 1-to-1’s, online consultations and facilitated group workshops.
www.unglueyou.co.uk
PS. If you want your body to feel fab from the inside out, check out the research behind Protandim and trial it for yourself.
