How to Live from Your Core Values, Not Your Fears and Insecurities

This is an excerpt from a blog post in Meduim. Click Here to read the whole article.

Timid, disconnected, anxious, shy, out of control. Do you have these feelings occasionally? Or have they become a chronic state of being? At some time in your life, you may have had an experience that left you fearful, even terrified. But if you feel stuck in fear and insecurity, you can miss out on the creativity, joy, and adventure of life.

Why we make decisions from fear

Some of our biggest fears revolve around things that will hurt our body — like spiders, snakes, or heights. After all, our fear response evolved in order to keep us safe. Our senses, informed by our memory, are primed to perceive danger so we can take action.

The APA Dictionary of Psychology defines fear as

n. a basic, intense emotion aroused by the detection of imminent threat, involving an immediate alarm reaction that mobilizes the organism by triggering a set of physiological changes.

When we have a fear response — a “fight-or-flight” response — our sympathetic nervous system pumps blood to our muscles. Cortisol, a stress hormone, is released, which increases the sugar (fuel) in the blood, and curbs whatever processes are non-essential to get us to safety.