I live with many fears. The biggest ones for me at the moment are the fear that I am forgettable and fear that I don’t handle situations very well. These are fears that I am currently exploring through counselling.

Although I would say that having a certain level of anxiety is important in some situations e.g. crossing roads or considering how your actions might have a negative impact on someone, thinking over all the possible negative consequences and living in constant fear can sometimes hold you back from doing the things that you want or need to do. I used to do horse riding for a long time and I remember the first time I did a canter on my own (for non-horsey people that is one up from trotting!) On this occasion, for some reason due to the horse that I was on, I couldn’t have someone run with me while I was cantering so I would either have to chicken out of trying it or take the plunge and do it on my own. I think that fear and sadness share some similarities as they both prevent you from seeing the bigger picture and particularly with fear, where your actions will lead you in the future and taking time to consider the possible positive outcomes can help you to see that taking risks can sometimes pay off and in this particular example from then on, I was able to grow in my ability and confidence in my riding.

Another example of this is when I dropped out of my nursing course after first year. Initially, I was happy that I made this decision as I didn’t feel like I was on the right path but just before I started my current course, I was fearful that I had given up nursing too quickly and not given myself enough time to learn and I had made the wrong choice for my new course. However, I am now so happy that I did as I really enjoy occupational therapy.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope that you find it helpful. As always, feel free to get in touch with me with any questions/feedback, I always love to hear it. The next instalment will be about the effect of disgust on self-confidence so stay tuned for that.

Until next time

Kathryn