There's an issue with which many people, including myself, have dealt. It concerns the fear of success. It seems crazy that people would be terrified to progress especially in western countries. Americans arec onditioned from pre-school to now to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" and prepare for life as productive and wealthy (or at least middle-class citizens). We're convinced to push ourselves to get those good grades, and get that job interview, buy that excessively large home! You can afford it! And this is not a concern of whetherwe can handle these "rewards" once we receive them, buta concern of whetherwe're individually ready to do something new that pushes us out of our comfort zones.

What I mean is that outrageous success is not all that common among people; for people who are fortunate from the beginning of their lives, it seems luck after luck is a common thing for these particular people. For the rest of us, it seems we get so used to living in horrible to mediocre situations, that when life does turn around for the better, it can seem pretty scary, especially if you find your world drastically and quickly changing for the better.

In my own personal experience, every time I took two steps forward, I would freak out when I realized I was not taking any steps back! Every time I made progress, I would stall myself and try to get my bearings because sometimes I just couldn't believe that I was finally getting somewhere with my goals. And it's funny because in the past I've always criticized people who purposely jeopardized their own fortune out of fear and habit of going down a new path in life; I didn't even realize that this strange habit was my own as well.

Now let's consider why people tend to do this mess to themselves. My belief is that in a weird, psychological way people are afraid to lose the success that they acquire. It is maybe that some people have retained this embedded belief that when they make positive gains in their lives that these gains are very short-lived, and these people don't want to deal with the loss of the natural high of their success. Some people would rather not even try to succeed than succeed and then fail afterwards. Some people would rather be in their familiar rut than be forced to change their habits in the wake of new positive situations.

What do you think about the fear of success?