One of the main reasons we often choose to stay in our comfort zone and don’t pursue our dreams is the fear of failure and fear of the unknown. Essentially though, this boils down to not believing in our own capability to handle situations that might arise. As human beings, we are wired in such a way that our main objective is to avoid pain (see the pleasure-pain theory). 

 

How can we start believing more in our capacity to handle adversity and change though? By changing our perspective and cultivating resilience. I like to believe that failure does not exist and it’s our perception of it that does the damage. If something doesn’t work out as planned, what if you approached it not as a failure but as a lesson learned? Next time something you love dearly “fails”…ask yourself: “What can I learn from this?”, “What am I grateful for?”. Once you have realized that in fact this experience has made you wiser and stronger, the negative connotation is no longer there. When curiosity and gratitude are the dominant emotions, there is no room for fear.

 

Here is a free workbook based on Positive Psychology principles that will help you to start shifting your perspective and become more resilient. Start by doing it daily for 1 week, whereby you think of past challenging experiences. Moving forward you can apply it in your daily life, whenever something challenging comes up. The objective is to start rewiring your brain by helping you to see the learnings in each situation. Once you have realized that in fact a challenging experience has made you wiser and stronger, the negative connotation is no longer there. When curiosity and gratitude are the dominant emotions, there is no room for fear. Also failure or rejection is actually a redirection towards what is meant for us. 

 

So I challenge you to view life’s setbacks as gifts in disguise, slowly nudging you towards where you are meant to be.

 

Fill out the form below to download!