“Fear is usually known as a negative emotion that arises when an identified threat happens.”
In our previous article, the above quote is how most of us defined fear.We all know that fear can be both positive and negative. It is entirely up to us to determine how we should interpret the situation.
Imagine this: you want to start a business. You feel it in your bones that this is what you want to do in your life. Your fear here of taking a risk can result in two different ways:
- Because of this fear, you won’t take the risk anymore because you keep thinking you might fail.
- Because of this fear, you’ll challenge yourself more and prove yourself wrong.
You see? Fear can be positive if we want it to be, and negative if we lean on being pessimistic. So the question now is, you! How about you? Is YOUR fear preventing you from living your purpose? If you see yourself more as being in number 1 above, then you might have “Purpose Anxiety”.
What is Purpose Anxiety?
Larissa Rainey, a researcher, defined “purpose anxiety” as “the negative emotions experienced in direct relation to the search for purpose”. Basically, this is when you have too much fear that it already affects your goal of finding your purpose. This is the anxiety you feel when you don’t have your sense of purpose and you’re aware that it’s missing.
5 Signs That You Have Purpose Anxiety
Here are some signs of Purpose Anxiety that you might need to reflect on if they manifest in you.
- You are job hopping. – You always switch jobs. Some will always say that this is a bad sign, but if you’re still young and just starting your career, for me this is totally normal and okay because this is a sign that you’re looking for your purpose. BUT! If you do not last at least a month in one job only, then I think that could be a problem already.
- You think you’re a failure. – This is sometimes the effect of the sign above. Because you weren’t able to stick to one job, you’re already thinking that there is a problem with you.
- You keep on comparing yourself to others. – This! This is the hardest problem of them all. We cannot control the progress of others, but you can control your mind to think that we have our own timing.
- You’re worrying too much that you might never find your purpose ever. – Trust me, you will find it! It can be tonight, tomorrow morning, the next day or next year. It may take a while, but one thing’s for sure, you will soon meet your purpose.
- You don’t acknowledge your accomplishments. – You’re so focused on your purpose anxiety that you tend to not notice that, even little by little, you’ve been actually accomplishing something already. It is important to reward yourself from time to time.
So do you already know your answer to our question, “Is your fear preventing you from living your purpose?”? If not yet, look again at the signs we’ve mentioned above. If most of the signs above have been manifesting in your life, most probably your answer to our question should be “Yes”. Yes, that your fear is preventing you from living your purpose. In this case, it is already time for you to seek guidance from a mental health professional.
Shirley Therapeutic and Consulting Services, LLC is a diverse therapy clinic that can meet the needs of anyone. If you’d like to talk about your mental health, feel free to message us here.
References:
Is fear preventing you from living your purpose? happify.com. (n.d.). Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.happify.com/hd/is-fear-preventing-you-from-living-your-purpose/
Mead, E. (2020, June 1). What is ‘purpose anxiety’ and do you have it? Healthline. Retrieved August 2, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/what-is-purpose-anxiety-do-you-have-it#5-signs-you-might-have-purpose-anxiety
Rainey, Larissa. (2014). The Search for Purpose in Life: An Exploration of Purpose, the Search Process, and Purpose Anxiety.
