Reflecting On Fear

Barbara Sher claims that when you come across any experience or task that may be new to you, the feeling of uncertainty and self-doubt begins to take its toll. This feeling is nothing new to me and to be honest, there have been numerous occasions when I felt this way. The most common types of resistance i have felt is thoughts of failure and thoughts of giving up while I still can. A perfect example was during last semester when I was taking Organic Chem 2. Everyday I walked in with moist palms and a queasy feeling in my gut because I kept thinking to myself "I'll never get through this, I'm going to fail, what am I doing here, etc..." The main reason for these resistances was due to rumors about the class and how hard it is in general. I hated Tuesdays and Thursdays because I knew I would have to go to class and be taught something that I might not be able to understand for a long time and something that needed constant practice. The type of fear this was was Stage fright because its feeling of uncertainty and self-doubt. I was completely uncertain how I was going to do, but ended up sticking it out until the end. When we face our fears and take a deep breath and start working on it slowly, it is possible to overcome it. As time passed, the feelings of uncertainty didn't go away but they decreased. As Dr. Rock said in class, vomiting/diarrhea suppresses and the queasy feeling is the most you will get. Fortunately i didn't experience the first two but the queasy feeling depressed slightly. So the underlying message would be to take things slowly and step by step to avoid feelings of giving up and self-doubt. I moved through this by doing exactly what i mentioned, taking deep breathes and taking the course step by step and not jumping into the lake before pointing your toes to check the water. I asked for tutoring, made study dates with friends, made note cards, etc... It wasn't enough so I will take the course again :(, but at a community college.