Why writing about Fear….
I have chosen to write about fear because it’s fear that has kept me stuck for almost one year…
I have been intensively researching, learning and creating services and online content (mainly on my website) but I hardly ever dared to share them publicly…
Fear has stopped me from sharing my passion and my work with the beautiful ESL teachers out there.
After a long and painful process, guided by my Coaches and Psychologist (yess that much assistance I needed in the end) I have finally managed to:
- face my own fear,
- articulate it,
- discover its root,
- understand it,
- befriend it and
- use it as a fuel to fulfill my mission and achieve my highest potential.
I have also finally understood that doing the things that scared me so much was no longer just about myself!
I started thinking about all the ESL Teachers out there I can really help but I deprive them of my assistance just because I allowed my fears to be stronger than my own calling…
I have even created beautiful relationships with amazing ESL teachers over the world one year ago when I followed my instinct and shared my knowledge, skills, passion and a part of my life on Instagram and my website…
Unfortunately, at some point the fear of not being good enough and the impostor syndrome made me hide in my own shell, work just behind the scenes and lose contact with the people I was actually creating for and whom I care about the most in my field – ESL Teachers.
I know for a fact that it’s not just my case…that many of you too, dear Teacher friends, are experiencing a similar situation, and I honestly don’t want you to allow your own fear keep you stuck. Why?
Because if I learned how to deal with my own fear and keep growing in the direction I want to, you can definitely learn too. Stop allowing your fear rob you of your growing opportunities… Learn how to transform your scariest fear into your ally, serve the people you love working with, have a positive impact on their lives and build that sustainable & profitable Online Teaching Business that you are dreaming of.
We all can transform even our worst fears into our fuel for success. It’s just a skill that can be learned through the right tools and practices.
To reach the our next level we first have to go through the Fear Zone. No, there is no shortcut or avoidance option available. The key is to work with our fear; understand its actual power and learn how to use it to make our dreams our own realities.
What Fear really is
We have seen how fear keeps us stuck and deprives us of our opportunities to grow and help others grow with us.
Let’s see what fear actually is so that we are even better equiped to deal with it.
What comes to your mind when you hear (or read) the word FEAR?
Can you articulate a specific fear of yours in a few words?
Or you’ve just felt something very uncomfortable before defining your fear?
A shiver deep inside you? Sweaty palms, cold hands, knotty tummies, clenched stomach, wobbly legs?
Something that makes your heart beat faster?
Something that makes you feel stuck, frozen or like hiding or running away?
Does your voice thick with fear?
Do you experience panick attacs, nightmare scenarios in your head?
Fear doesn’t speak with words. It communicates to us by making us feel.
We FEEL ‘fear’ before we can articulate it.
And allowing ourselves to FEEL, to stay with disconfort (seeking to understand and identify its root, refraining from numbing, burrying and hiding the pain) is the first stage of the healing and growing process.
According to Cambridge dictionary Fear is an unpleasant emotion or thought that we have when we are frightened or worried by something dangerous, painful, or bad that is happening or might happen.
But this is not the only fear we are dealing with in our lives, especially as a Teacher who dares to start the entrepreneurship journey.
We experience 2 major Types of Fear even though we can’t easily tell the difference at the moment we feel scared, frightened or worried.
The two main Types of Fear
- The fear that keeps us alive: life-or death fear, (eg fear of jumping in front of a speeding car, …)
This is the fear we all have inherited from our ancestors and that keeps us alive. It comes from a region of our brain called amygdala and some people call it our our lizard brain.
- The fear that stops us from reaching your goal, the fear that keeps us small and stuck
Amygdala doesn’t know the difference between the good challenges and the dangerous ones in life. So it tries to keep us safe by avoiding all kinds of challenges.
This is why, most often the not, we experience fear even though nothing threatens our real safety or the safety of others. Our Primitive brain tries to keep us in our comfort zone where it’s safe.
But at the same time, if not properly identified and understood, our fear can become our dream killer.
It stops us from achieving our highest potential.
We need first to learn to maket he difference between the two types of fear.
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Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.