In life, we will be offered many opportunities for many different things, big and small. There may be job opportunities, academic opportunities, travel opportunities, and more. These opportunities allow us to learn, develop, grow, and experience new and different things.
But, how often do we take advantage of those opportunities? For those of us who have serious anxiety, probably not often.
If you do decide to pass on an opportunity, think of WHY you made the decision to pass on it. Was it strictly due to your anxiety or was there another deeper reason as to why you passed?
Take a moment to think about this and try to be completely honest with yourself. Once you recognize why you passed on the opportunity, you can work on the issue to prevent you from passing on another similar opportunity.
Last year, I passed on an opportunity to work with one of my best friends. At the time, when I declined her offer, I told her that I wasn’t in a good place mentally to begin something new, and I wasn’t ready for such a major change. While that answer was somewhat true, it wasn’t the honest answer. I passed on her offer because I was afraid to go through the interview process.
Why was I scared about the interview? Interviews scare the living bejesus out of me. They are my least favorite thing in the entire universe. Interviews are evaluations, judgements. They evaluate my character, my skills, how I present myself, etc., and I do not, under any circumstance, like to feel I am being judged.
Not only was my fear of judgement a motivator for me to decline the offer, but if I took a deeper look within, my fear of judgement lead to a fear of rejection which then lead to me realize that this all stemmed from poor self-esteem and low self-worth.
After realizing the true and honest reason for declining my friends offer, I knew that If I didn’t work on casting this fear aside, and work towards building up my self-esteem, then I would undoubtedly miss out on more opportunities like this.
If you feel hesitant about taking an opportunity, set time aside to really think through why you feel that way. Don’t be afraid to dig deep!
With love & support, Molly
