Face Your Fears July 27, 2015 – Posted in: Personal Development – Tags: bath magazine, confidence, failure, family, fear, goals, growth, Life Coach, Life Coaching, Personal Development, positive thinking
Let me tell you about a client of mine who I worked with several years ago…
James* was a straight-A student who couldn’t get out of bed or do any studying. He was also taking painkillers by the handful, drinking every day and had stopped eating. Having been predicted a first class degree in his first and second years at university, he now risked being thrown off his course.
His mum contacted me to ask if I’d be willing to help him. He’d refused counselling or psychiatry but coaching had less ‘mental-illness’ connotations for him so he had agreed to give it a try. Having been very clear about what I did and didn’t offer and what I could and couldn’t help with, James and I agreed to have an initial session.
This initial session needed to be on email because James was so locked into himself that he couldn’t face a phone call or Skype conversation. So, for the first month, once a week we’d spend an hour emailing each other. From there he was willing to use Skype Instant Messenger, then a phonecall, then Skype with the camera on and then, finally after 6 months, a face to face session just before he graduated with his first class honours degree.
So, what was going on for James? In a nutshell, he was afraid. Afraid of his feelings, afraid of his future and afraid of failing. In our work we slowly but surely untangled these fears and faced them. This beautiful process then allowed James to drop his negative behaviours and start living again.
See what facing your fears can do for your life…?