After going through the recent economic downturns, many people are very leery about any form of change. They shutter just hearing the word change. They associate change with terms like layoffs, forced retirements, restructuring, pay-cuts, etc. Many people’s first response is to fear the future.
When you hear “change” and begin fearing the future, it can cause a number of negative results in your life. Some of those negative results are increased stress, limited patience, and increased anxiety.
Increased Stress
To fear the future at the mention of change is not an uncommon reaction, but it is a misunderstanding of change. When we fear the future, it immediately causes increased stress. That stress comes from trying to control the uncontrollable. It is very common to automatically expect the worse case scenario for each action. You may think if there is going to be change at work, it means your company is going under, or you’re going to lose your job, but in reality you’re just getting a new boss. The worst sometimes does happen, but stressing over it is not a good thing to do because it doesn’t change the outcome.
All that stress does is that it forces you to lose sleep, increases your blood pressure, and causes other challenges in your life. That increased stress can do significant long-term harm to you, your body, your relationships, and others around you. It weighs you down and can cause long-term damage.
Limited Patience
When you fear the future and feel stressed, you often have limited patience. With limited patience, it is easy to let yourself slip and say something you didn’t mean to say. You could make a snide comment to someone you work with or your boss. That could add more challenges to an already difficult situation.
In addition to limited patience hurting your work life, it can also hurt your family and friend relationships. When you have limited patience because you fear the future it is easier to get frustrated. Just like increased stress, this can cause long-term problems.
Increased Anxiety
When you fear the future because of change, it can also cause increased anxiety. Anxiety can be very bad for your health. It can result in sleep apnea, decreased ability to fight disease, or other health problems. A lot of times when people have increased anxiety, they begin isolating themselves from others.
How not to fear the future
The opposite of fear is faith. You can turn your fear of the future into faith by getting to work on the things within your control. Let go of the things outside your control because there is nothing you can do about them. You can’t make anyone do anything. All you can do is present a strong evidence based case as to why others should do things the way you see them. If you feel you can present that case, do the necessary research so you can present that case.
For example, if you are facing potential layoffs, do all you can to make yourself an invaluable member of the team. Make yourself indispensible by doing the things others aren’t willing to do. If you create and/or manage key business functions, they won’t be able to afford losing you.
Do all you can to control what is within your control. Work as smart and as hard as you can. In addition, make sure that you communicate your value to those that make the decisions. You can be a great leader and/or worker, but if those that make the decisions don’t realize the value you create, it won’t matter. Be sure to communicate your value to others in a humble and informative way without arrogance.
When you do all you can to make your future brighter, you can have faith that things will work out whenever there is a change. You will no longer fear the future because you will know that you created value and will continue to do so wherever you go. That may, at times, be with a new company, but you will still create value.
What is the impact of fear of the future?
Have you ever feared the future? What impact has that had on your life? How have you overcome that fear? What result did that have on your life or the lives of those around you? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Hi Brandon, thanks for the interesting, thought provoking article. You are right, people do fear change and the unknown and it is sometimes hard for people to accept it, but its never going away (like taxes and death). I tell my staff (Systems Engineers) that there is always work for good systems engineers – and I have “faith” in that. My other favorite saying is that “no good deed goes unpunished” – obviously a joke to those who can read it as such, but really what I mean is that good begets good and it is a habit we should all try to have (even in the face of sometimes nearly certain doom :)) Cheers!