Loved the article Nick. I have spent many years focusing on the fear and letting it keep me stifled, recently I have really surprised myself with how well I do socially even though I am an introvert.

Glad you enjoyed the article Tyler!

Hi M, thanks for sharing, what you’re describing is so incredibly common. I would say not good enough is likely the most dominant negative emotion I see in clients alongside powerlessness/victim and fears around failure. Working on overcoming these emotions are absolutely life changing for anyone who tackles them, both in how you feel in your day to day life as well as how you approach and work through situations (such as being able to speak up).

I also love how you mentioned embracing introversion as an asset to overcome fears, brilliant!
Nick.

I’ve recently discovered that the reason I’ve had trouble with stress, depression and so on, is the fear of not being good enough. I’ve always known it was there, I just didn’t know that it was holding me this much back in my life. My therapist said to me – and I think she’s been trying to say this to me for a while now – that I might be afraid of not being good enough, but nor will I ever be able to pick up the confidence and selfworth if I don’t THROW MYSELF OUT THERE AND DO THINGS!

And my goodness she is right. And should it happen that I don’t do it (e.g. my job) well enough – well, I can always learn and get better at it – it’s that horrendously simple. And this revelation actually also came to me – again (it’s probably not the first time I’ve “learned” this) – when I watched The Good Dinosaur, because fear is a part of life – you have to learn how to go through it anyway. 🙂

And if not anything, embracing your introversion (if you’re an introvert) can actually be an asset to overcome fears – that’s at least what I’ve discovered.