I recently did a survey of my website subscribers on stress at work and money. One of the questions I asked was what is your biggest fear or frustration about your job and / or money? And these are some of the most common responses received from among the nearly 700 people who responded to the survey:
- Around 27% mentioned the fear of not having enough money to cover their needs or expectations Around 15% mentioned the fear of being unemployed More than 10% mentioned the fear of not meeting their objectives or that things do not go as expected. Almost 10% mentioned concern about not doing a good job or making a mistake.
These percentages are perhaps not surprising, but what is interesting and that I would like to highlight are two points:
1. The biggest fear is that of not having enough money. But it is interesting to note that the comments in most cases are referring to a black “future” in “our minds”. The point is, how do we live now, "this" moment when we have everything covered when we fear that we will not have what we need in the future? Can you see how it affects your mood and quality of life "now", something that is only in your mind? And can you even imagine what your life would be like if you didn't have that fear?
It may be difficult for many to even imagine it, but I invite you to imagine what it would be like to live without that fear, how you would enjoy more than what you have now, you would be more at peace with this moment and much happier with your life and with what what you have now.
I invite you to ask yourself and be really sincere with yourself, if you have ever lacked what you “needed” and I emphasize “you needed” because I am not talking about what you would have liked to have, or what your mind told you that you should have. If we look back, you may see that you have always had what you have "needed," even at times when you had the least. Proof of this is that
we have subsisted until now.
And again, I'm not talking about what we think we should have had but what we really needed and why would it have to be any different in the future? Checking it out for ourselves helps us to trust life more and more, and trust that life will always give us what we need, at the right time, not a minute before and not a minute after, and seeing this can mean a great liberation, because you stop wearing yourself out worrying about the future and you have more energy to enjoy your life here and now as it is. Look at all the things you have now that you take for granted, and how your needs are covered right now and notice the gratitude that comes from seeing it, and re-value and enjoy what you have.
2. The second point I would like to make is about work. It is curious that only 1.5% mentioned that they were worried about not having a job and yet the second great fear was losing their job. And as someone answered in the survey, "it is enough to have a job to start having the fear of losing it... " Can you see again how we worry about things in the future that are only in our mind and how that prevents us from fully enjoying our life? and work now?
My suggestion in this case is that you befriend the worst that can happen. If your biggest fear is that you will lose your job, I invite you to make a list of why your life would be even better if that happened. Try to be very honest with yourself and make a list as long as possible. Our mind tends to paint a very black scenario for us in case of being out of work and that is repeated countless times, now turn it around and allow and help your mind to see all those positive things that this could bring to your life in case you will lose your job. When we see that the worst that can happen can even be something positive in our life, it helps us free ourselves from a fear that does not let us be as happy as we can be now, which often leads us to accept jobs or situations with which we do not agree, wears us down… Can you imagine what it would be like to never have that fear again? How free would you be to be yourself, to say what you have to say at all times and to enjoy your work more now that you have it?
