Written by: Jane Christine, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Fear can be conscious or unconscious. You know conscious fear when you are aware of keeping away from painful experiences; fear of dogs, flying, claustrophobia. Whereas unconscious fear manifests as self-sabotage, and you may not even be mindful it is happening, fear of success, money, notoriety.
Fear of visibility can prevent you from scaling or even starting your business. When you become more visible, your underlying insecurities can show up as lack of confidence, imposter syndrome, overwhelm, and feeling of overall self-doubt. And who needs all that when trying to create a successful, sustainable and pleasurable business? Not me!
Take this quick test to see if you suffer from fear of visibility.
A quick test for fear of visibility
Do any of these statements resonate with you?
You pick up your phone to take a video, get overwhelmed then put it down and walk away.
You undercharge yourself and struggle to convert sales calls into clients
You censor your voice when writing content as you don’t want to offend anyone and stand out
You hesitate to invest in yourself and your business for fear of failure
You apply to podcasts only to freeze when they accept as you don’t feel worthy to be heard
You launch an offer and don’t immediately get any clients; you think you mustn’t be any good
You get physically nervous, sweaty palms, stomach-churning when you think about collaborating with other entrepreneurs in your field
You take 100 photos for 1 post but none of them reach your expectations, so you distract yourself with other things
You wonder how other people go live with so much confidence and think you must be missing something
You avoid talking about your business with friends and family for fear of judgment
If you resonated with 3 or more of these statements, then you have a fear of visibility. Please don’t worry; an acknowledgment is the first step. You’ve now moved an unconscious fear into your consciousness, and this is where true transformation takes place – in your conscious mind.
Where Fear Comes From
It’s usually pretty easy to identify the external representation of fear, as above, but taking a look internally and identifying where the fear is coming from is the key to breaking patterns no longer serving you.
Fear of visibility often stems right back to childhood when you put yourself out there only to be made to feel different, bullied, or rejected. This has led to a cycle of fear that our minds evaluate each situation and risk assesses if there is danger, a threat, or pain.
If you’ve experienced pain, rejection, or judgment in past experiences when you voiced your opinion, spoke about your beliefs, or showed your face and body, then these experiences have been stored as data in your unconscious mind. We, as humans, move away from pain and move towards pleasure. So, it makes sense if you’ve felt pain in the past when you spoke up. Your mind doesn’t want to put you through that again – its only interest is in self-preservation.
“Just doing it doesn’t remove your fear.”
I disagree with those who say to push through your fears to just do it. If it was as simple as that, you would have done it already. There is true that doing more of anything will make it become easier. That’s how you raise your self-efficacy as you’re building evidence to prove you can do it. But what happens when you’re not at that point yet? You’re so overwhelmed you can’t even see that as an option?
We Fear 3 Things: Fear of Loss, Fear of the Process, and Fear of the Outcome
In our modern era, we normally don’t fear for the safety of our life; this is leftover from our caveman times. Our brains are very much instinctual, so we repeatedly misunderstand our fear perspective. I work from the notion that behind every action is a positive intention. And the positive intention behind fear is self-preservation. So, are you experiencing actual fear or a bad thinking strategy?
How to Prepare Yourself for Visibility
As we know, fear is a form of self-preservation. It’s to keep you protected and safe. So, with that knowledge and understanding that we have a bad thinking strategy, we can alter, let’s serve that need of feeling safe in another way than fearing the thing we actually want to do.
Think of a time when you feel most safe. What about it made you feel safe?
A specific room, a song, a sweater or blanket, a bath, cuddles with your dog. Specifically, list 5 tangible things that make you feel safe and protected. Now choose 3 options you’d like to introduce into your choices when you need to feel safe. Do 1 of or more of these things before you activate the task that makes you fearful of visibility to bring you into safety and a sense of protection. You are changing your emotional association towards this task. You can authentically become confident to show yourself online and in your business to succeed as you desire and deserve.
When fear of visibility is deep, people often try to handle it themselves. However, getting to the root cause of fear isn’t something easy to do by yourself when you aren’t qualified in mindset work. Also, you’re in the midst of it, so it’s hard to see the forest through the trees. But that’s ok, as finding guidance from a mindset coach can quickly get to the root cause and help you achieve your business goals faster than if you were to tackle your fears on your own. Plus, who wants to do that? Support and encouragement sound way better, right?
Jane Christine, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Jane Christine is a certified Life Coach, NLP Master Practitioner, and author. Originally from Australia working in the corporate world until she questioned her life's purpose. Jane believed there had to be more to life, so she sold everything she owned and set off for a nomadic lifestyle traveling around the world searching for answers and a place to call home, which she finally found in Spain. Her search and transformation took her to over 37 countries. Life experiences and her own personal growth guided her to become a certified Life Coach; her travels inspired her quest to learn about the world around us and why we do what we do. Since 2012, Jane Christine has been studying how our pasts shape us, the effects of societal standards, and the impact of values. With the techniques of Neuro-Linguistics Programming and through the power of transformation, learn how to; bridge the gap, define self-worth, set tangible goals, find comfort through change, and how 1% micro-changes can alter lives. Jane Christine is the author of "How You Know Already: Questions to ask yourself to find the answers within," as she believes we are all unique, and so are each of our paths to follow. She is dedicated to her clients and supporting their growth and journey. Her motto: Design your life, don't just live it!
