When I started my new job two years ago, I felt pretty unsure and nervous every day because it was a completely new field. Everyone knew I needed time to get up to speed, but my perfectionism put me under a lot of pressure. No one expected me to come here and do a job I’d never done before—except myself.

All my life, I’ve been afraid of new things because I always thought I wasn’t good enough or smart enough to understand them quickly enough. While that never stopped me from trying something new, it was a challenge for me every single time. I was afraid of appearing incompetent and of feeling like I couldn’t live up to people’s expectations. I realized that, for the reasons mentioned above, I had unconsciously built up resistance to everything new I encountered. I know very well how I function, but it took quite a while before I had largely overcome my perfectionism. As soon as I allowed myself to engage with the learning process, I no longer felt the need to be perfect. Letting go of resistance took away my fear and allowed me to settle in more smoothly. I understood things more quickly and more sustainably. I found confirmation that the more I knew, the more comfortable I felt. Acquiring knowledge gave me a sense of security and serenity. So I shifted my reflex from (unconscious) “resistance” to (conscious) “desire.” With everything new I’ve encountered since then, there’s only one goal: to gather knowledge!

New responsibilities, changing circumstances, or finding yourself at a crossroads can be overwhelming at first. But it all comes down to the mindset. Why are some people so successful? Not because they were afraid to do something they’d never done before, but because they were full of drive and determination to take action and do what was necessary. Fear of the unknown can paralyze our thinking and affect our whole system. It can cause us to withdraw and leads to isolation, which only feeds the fear. Only because we don’t know something yet doesn’t mean we can’t learn. By overcoming that thought pattern (and fear is nothing but a thought pattern), the world opens up to us. Everything we thought was impossible becomes achievable. Nothing at all is impossible – Nothing!

In Love and Light