How Anxiety and Discomfort Contribute to Growth

"You will either step forward into growth,

or you will step back into safety." 

- Abraham Maslow

If I asked you what your number one goal is, what would it be?

If you said you wanted to make $100,000 this year and I asked you to set the bar higher at $500,000 would you start squirming in your chair? Would your tie feel a little tighter than usual or would your palms become sweaty?

One of the biggest obstacles to succeeding in business or achieving what you want in life is setting the bar too low. Most people don't like feeling uncomfortable and as soon as they're required to step it up a notch, self-doubt creeps in, turns into fear, and they back away.

In order to reach your goals, there must be discomfort, otherwise you will just stay where you've always been. When you come up with a new, big idea, it will not be in harmony with your existing way of thinking and will create a conflict in your internal vibration. 

Your mind/body will move into a foreign vibration and if you don't understand what's causing it, it will create fear and you'll want to stop it.  We naturally reject uncomfortable feelings.

Can you recall a time in the past when you were terrified to try something new, but after you did, realized there was nothing to be afraid of? Once you create an experience, it becomes a part of who you are and is no longer an unknown to be feared.

Where you are today is a result of past conditioning and as new ideas seep into your unconscious, they create anxiety and discomfort. People who live unfulfilling lives refuse to move through these feelings and create new experiences. 

They choose to stay where they are.

To go to a higher level, you need to change your conditioning and that means accepting experiences that make you uncomfortable. 

Every single one of us was born with the ability to choose and when we are faced with uncomfortable feelings, we can either choose to back away from them or move through them and grow.

The most important thing to understand is your feelings are a guidepost. When you feel anxious or uncomfortable, you are sitting on the cusp of a higher, more rewarding existence. 

If you were to ask any public speaker how she can be so confident, she'll tell you the first time she spoke in front of a group, she didn't think anyone could hear above her knees knocking or that she had to have her fingers pried off of the stall door of the ladies washroom.

If you were to ask any successful salesperson how he makes such an impressive income, he'll tell you he received so many "no's" in his early attempts to sell, he considered packing his bags and joining the priesthood. 

What sets the successful apart from the mediocre is the willingness to move through the fear and discomfort and create experiences to build on.

Once you move through the anxiety and create a new experience, it becomes a part of your subconscious (a part of who you are) and the disharmony in your vibration falls away.

The fear dissipates and you elevate yourself to the next level of growth.

Today I ask you to review the goals you've set for yourself and determine if they're big enough to take you out of your comfort zone. If they're set to give you only more of the same, is that really what you want?

Think big. Believe you can have anything you want. And let your feelings guide you. Move through the discomfort and you will find yourself living the life many others only dream of. 

2006 © Laurie Hayes - The HBB Source