Fear Prevents People From Leaving Their Comfort Zone and Succeeding

Being afraid of failure causes people to inhibit their performance in their academics and passions. Psychology Today explains that disappointment, anger, embarrassment, frustration, and regret are side effects of failure, but to me, failure provokes a different feeling, an almost more detrimental one, shame. Shame makes us feel bad about who we are, rather than what we have done. Shame harms our self-esteem and our emotional state, and deters people from taking risks. Dr. Winch explains that people who avoid the “psychological threats” linked to failure unconsciously avoid taking risks out of fear.

This fear prevents people from living to their fullest potential. LifeHack explains that being successful and being able to achieve high standards causes individuals to be afraid to step outside of their comfort zones. Overemphasizing success and achievement in one’s life can petrify them to taking a risk. LifeHack continues that if someone achieves everything that they do, their life is built upon their successes only.

When people unconsciously avoid failure, they make their comfort zone smaller, and restrict themselves from having the full experience of the world around them. In their minds, avoiding failure is more important than their desire to succeed. With a competitive and successful environment around us constantly, we get caught up in the mentality that mistakes makes us tainted, damaged, or harmful, when in reality, errors make us better. Facing mistakes bring us one step closer to success. We can grow and learn from our mistakes, but we lack this view when we’re blinded by societal expectations of perfection and success.

Therefore,we must accept that failure will occur and live with the question “what would we accomplish if we knew we could not fail?” in the back of our minds.

“I can have fear, but I need not be fear – if I am willing to stand someplace else in my inner landscape”

~Palmer, 1998