How to Confront Consequence Anxiety
Why worrying about consequences holds you back
“What do you mean?” shock wiped his face free of emotion, “I have to consider the consequences.”
Dave had come to see me because he never felt able to start a new project or make changes. He spent so long considering the consequences that he frightened himself into inaction.
“Yes, you have to consider what might happen but if you think in consequences, you’ll usually head down a negative route because consequences tend to be bad. Try thinking about what you want to happen rather than what might go wrong?”
If you’re living in consequences, you’re not in the moment. You’re not in the now but scaring yourself with terrible results. People rarely talk about happy consequences, do they?
Studies looking at how people associate current behaviours with long-term outcomes, and if they consider future consequences have been undertaken in sport, amongst children and teenagers and in business and find that people are less likely to take chances, self-regulate more often and are more likely to suffer anxiety.
Health Consequences
Do you worry about your health? Do you frequently imagine that there’s something wrong with you?
