What if I get it wrong?
What if I make a complete fool of myself?
What if everyone stares at me?
What if I never live down this embarrassment?
What if I fail dramatically and everyone sees the impostor underneath?
‘What ifs’ have always played a key role in my inner-dialogue and just as I’ve demonstrated above, they’ve often been pretty unhelpful and unreasonable.
As with the examples above, ‘What if’ questions are often led by fear, focused on imagining the worst-case scenario in order to keep you from even attempting to achieve your goal. If you read my blog a couple of days ago, you’ll know that these words come from Fear, the Jailer, rather than Fear, the Counselor.
But What if we took charge of our What ifs?!
What if this goes really well?
What if they really like what they hear?
What if my nervousness just breaks down barriers and makes me more human?
What if people see how passionate I am?
What if everyone stares at me, and hangs off my every word?
What if I get everything that I’ve ever wanted?
Whilst I do believe in optimistic realism, rather than deluded positivity (and there’s a fine line between them sometimes); I also think that if you’re running through unrealistic scenarios anyway, then they may as well be happy ones.
Next time your mind starts up with the ‘What ifs’… see if you can’t magic up some positive scenarios. Comments welcome:
Anxious-Ambition.com 