Finding Yourself After Having Your Brain Hijacked by Fear

A health crisis right as the company was being acquired -Maddy didn’t see that coming.

She found herself with a new condition that was unpredictable & could send her to bed for days. FMLA was her best option for managing the situation initially.

When she returned, it was to a new reporting structure. She was now under people that didn’t know her or her work ethic AND her health continued to plague her.

She feared being seen as flakey, disappearing suddenly for days while her work was left hanging.

In a meeting with a new supervisor she was looking for input on re-prioritizing her projects when he responded curtly:

“I have 10 projects going right now. What are you doing?”

This completely threw her.

Where she was once confident in her abilities she now found herself anxious & apprehensive about work and herself -especially in his presence. She fumbled her words, worried about what he thought, & struggled with judgment of herself.

Her brain was completely hijacked by fear.

Fear of…

Judgment.

Disappointing someone.

Not being able to keep up.

Losing her job.

This state was like a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more she focused on his opinion the more distracted she was from the conversation at hand & probably came across as unsure or flakey.

As we deconstructed the situation in our 1:1 coaching session Maddy was surprised to realize how affected she was from that one comment. There hadn’t been any others to support the fear she was feeling.

Was it possible that he was overwhelmed taking over a new group & wasn’t thinking when he made that comment? Sure.

How many times do you think he thought about that conversation after? Probably never! But, she sure did.

Talking about the conversation like this brought her relief & started to quiet the anxiety so we could plan ways for her to re-prioritize & find her voice again.

That’s the thing when the brain is in fear, it knocks the rational operating systems off-line.

What she needed was support finding her way back to her old confident self with a new awareness of how she was self sabotaging.

Where is this happening for you?

Think about a time when you struggled to get your point across, were afraid to say what you were thinking in case you didn’t have the facts “right”, or just bit your tongue out of fear of what someone else might think.

That’s a brain hijacked by fear.

I’d love to hear what scenarios this brings up for you.

Hit reply & let me know.

With so much love & intimate knowledge of the fear brain 😉,