Melanie Shmois

View Original

Big Decision Freak Out

When you make a big decision like starting our own business or quitting your job, or getting married, or committing fully to a weight loss program, your brain is going to freak out. It's not uncommon for all of the sudden, your brain will start having thoughts like “What if it doesn’t work out?” “This is so scary” “I don’t know if I can do this." These reactions are normal. When this happens, you have two options.1). Start funneling your energy to support your decision/your dream.2). Start buffering. (For those of you that haven’t been following me a long time, buffering means distracting yourself from a negative emotion by doing something pleasurable, like eating, drinking, shopping, but usually has a net negative effect afterwards.)What I want you to know is that all those freaked out thoughts don’t mean anything. They are just a normal process of being human and your brain adjusting to a new venture. If you think those thoughts are meaningful, you will not follow through on pursuing your dreams. You have to decide what to focus on instead. Don’t let your thought drama get in the way. Default thinking will keep you the same. It takes more effort to think deliberately, so there will be a little tension that occurs when you force your brain to consider all the things that can go right. Your default will initially prompt you to consider the negative, to prevent you from getting hurt, but you don’t need to spend a lot of time there with the fear. You’re afraid because you are human.

Acknowledge your fears, but continue to take action anyway. Don’t wait for all of this to feel good before you move forward. Trust me it won’t. Courage often times doesn’t feel good. Courage means this is scary,. It's OK to admit that you could get hurt, but it's more important to stay committed throughout. If I attached too long to my thought drama about starting this coaching business, I wouldn’t have changed the lives of my clients. I self-coach, so that I can show up fully for you, so you get the results you want in your life. Focus on your contribution, who you can help, they need you to get over your thought drama so you can help them. Keep your eye on where you are going. Spend lots of time considering “What is the best case scenario?” What if you thought about that for an hour a day?  Can you imagine what that would do for your dreams? Try it, it beats spending so much brain energy on the worst-case scenario. 

Have a great day everyone. 1 mini-session is available this month, go to Mindyourstrength.com to grab it, it can change your life and help you feel better.

Check me out on FB live (Mind Your Strength Coaching) Page where I go live to talk about this during my weekly 'Thought Tools Tuesday' series.