I have only a short thought to share with you today. My goal is to offer you insight from my own personal growth and experiences with you here every week.
Fear is inevitable and will continue to show up in your life. Sometimes disguised and sometimes obvious. Humans can be remarkably predictable around fear and conflict. There are four types of responses: fight, flee, freeze or fawn. Typically individuals gravitate to one or two and this habit is created in childhood based on what made sense to the child and helped them find belonging. I encourage you to dive into understanding these and finding which one you tend to respond with. The more self aware we can be, the more we can learn to identify fear when it sneaks in the back entrance and when we aren’t sure of circumstances around us. I find fear more present in my everyday the more I get to know my response. During challenging seasons emotions can run high and it can be hard to make sense of all of them I use this simple three steps to navigate situations and circumstances where emotions are high but I can’t make sense as to why.
1- What am I feeling? — if my feeling is to flee or a strong feeling of dislike of the situation then I can be sure it is stemmed from fear of some kind knowing my automatic response to fear and conflict is to flee. Not always does conflict mean there is fear but I do find they often go hand in hand.
2- What about the situation am I afraid of (get specific)? Sometimes there are multiple fears but try to focus on the main one.
3- What is the worst thing that could happen? What is the best outcome?
These three steps help me identify my feelings are fear, identify what the fear is and address it head on. The beauty of a system built on self awareness is that the more you practice it the easier it is to move through more efficiently. Gaining clarity comes more easily as we learn to be more aware of who we are and what our natural responses are.
If the best outcome imagined in the situation is desirable I have learned that it’s worth seeing through even in the most crippling fear. I hope this brief three steps can be something you learn to utilize navigating your emotions and don’t forget to research the fight, flight, freeze and fawn responses.
Have a great week friends and thank you for reading!
Written by Chantel Funk + Co.
Chantel Funk + Co. 