Fear of failure.

[King Peace]

I wake up in fear. I have felt this so many times before. Only now I am 50 years old! I AM A FAILURE AT MY CAREER! That hurts so much!

[lilchrissy]

You sound like you are judging yourself really harshly. Are you sure that is not someone else's voice like a parent in your head? I bet you are too focused on the negative and not giving yourself enough credit for what you do accomplish. There a great exercise in the CBT book by sam obitz called the counter exercise that teaches you how to focus on what you have accomplished that I bet would help you a lot. There's even a free i-phone counter app you can use now that didn't exist when I used them

[Paisleegreen]

Why do you think you are a failure at work?

[lilchrissy]

Why do you think you are a failure at work?

Great question!!!

[tina martin]

You may not be pleased with where you are at work; but, in today's world, providing for yourself is a great success in my eyes and probably many others. Another person here once gave a great commentary on the value of work, any work.

Try to give yourself credit where credit is due. Just a suggestion.

[lilchrissy]

Great input Tina. Very true!

[JR5]

You sound like you are judging yourself really harshly. Are you sure that is not someone else's voice like a parent in your head? I bet you are too focused on the negative and not giving yourself enough credit for what you do accomplish. There a great exercise in the CBT book by sam obitz called the counter exercise that teaches you how to focus on what you have accomplished that I bet would help you a lot. There's even a free i-phone counter app you can use now that didn't exist when I used them

This is what helped me along with the counter exercise in that book also. Good stuff if you apply yourself to doing the exercises daily for a while.

[Karmerri]

I don't know what's worse....after the program I thought deeply about myself and my life-I am afraid of SUCCESS!!! I know both of them aren't healthy, it's just that I don't do a lot of things, say a lot of things, think out loud a lot of things, etc. that I know I would be awesome at, listened to, .....

I was great at sports growing up and then quit for no apparent reason, some jobs in the past...I know I could've moved up and beyond in my positions and didn't. So, although it's different, it's all self-sabotoging....I've been reading a lot of Joel Osteen's books lately and I am so mad that my whole life was lived "AFRAID". Afraid to fail, afraid to succeed, blah, blah, blah....

Good luck in changing your thoughts, b/c that's where you have to start with your head on this one. You can change! Of course, I am still a work in progress...

[thequietman]

I have this issue aswell, however now I don't even attempt things due to the fear of failure, I suppose I put all my efforts in before and was unsuccessful so now don't even try.

[King Peace]

Thank you for the feedback. I am a failure at work because I can't get a job. It's been 2 years and 4 months since I had a job. I will be 51 soon. I am experiencing age discrimination as well. I never thought this would happen to me! But it has! I have a spouse and child. My spouse works. I don't want my child to have these struggles. I want my child to be successful. I am afraid... I don't know what to do anymore. I don't even want to work. How do I get retrained? Am I smart enough to get retrained?