Transition Anxiety (Got a new Goal?)

[Author’s note: Apologies to all comments I’ve received to date (30 Jan 2017) and have yet to respond to! I will get to them soon, I promise!]

Written By Benjamin Ngiam

I wrote this in the first week of January 2017 and it’s supposed to be a “New Year Post” but couldn’t get it up till now so here it is, now. Hey can’t blame me for my busy schedule, right?

Besides- it’s never to late to share insights with my fellow brothers and sisters! So let’s get right onto it! Today we will be talking about something which we can all relate to.

A new year will likely mean that you have a new goal / mission to attempt in life.

Perhaps you want to learn how to become a better conversationalist– Good for you!
You take action, talk to friends about it, watch videos and reading books. You feel super excited as you start learning all these new perspectives, ideas and theories on the topic which you’ve never known existed till the greater minds of the past shared their knowledge with you!

Things feel so positive that it seems like you are only a step closer to achieving your goal!

BUT, when it’s time to put things to the test and set out into the real world and apply what you’ve learned? You hesitate. And you resent yourself for it.

Don’t worry. We all go through this process. The process where we are afraid to take action because we do not want to screw things up and risk looking like an incompetent dumbass.

Through this fear, we trap ourselves in our current set of skills and “Level”.

What if you take the leap to try something, fall down and look like the dumbest crash test dummy?

You go through the state of Transition Anxiety– a state where you are vulnerable.

Think of a caterpillar spinning itself into a cocoon. It’s not going anywhere and is a perfect opportunity for a predator to come over and nab it for lunch.

Now, when the metamorphosis is finally complete and the newly reborn butterfly is crawling out for the first time? It is transitioning into its new life- this is where it is most vulnerable. It doesn’t have its cocoon’s protection anymore, nor has it master it’s new skill to survive.

Talk about easy dinner for predators!

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So here’s the thing that most of us don’t realize- when you are going through something new, you will get a chance to go back to that innocent beginners perspective and see things with a new set of eyes.

Yes, you will feel vulnerable and definitely lots of anxiety because of that unpredictable and totally unknown possible outcome that’s “likely going to be negative” and you know what?

If you learn to embrace that feeling with a new perspective to things? You will benefit tremendously from it all. At any time when you find yourself given a chance to learn things from a beginners perspective?

Chances are, you are given the opportunity to evolve. Embrace it and level up. It’s a sign that you are on track and learning something new.

Talk to you again soon champs, hope you’re having a fantabulous new year. Till next time, stay chirpy.

Ciao! 😉

Your pal,
Benjamin

[Today’s Featured image is by Jefferson Clark]