Fear is a sensation that produces great anguish and suffering to the person who suffers it , and that can originate from a real cause, because it is an adaptive emotion that has helped the human species to survive over the centuries.

However, people can experience irrational fears about objects or thoughts. Regarding the latter, some fears may be the result of dysfunctional beliefs and unrealistic expectations.

  • Not everyone is afraid of the same stimuli. In our article “The 16 types of fear and their characteristics” you can learn about the different types of fear that exist.

The relationship of fear with personal development

Fear is closely linked to a person’s personal development, as some of these fears force people to behave in ways that they do not really want. For example, the fear of the unknown can make a person reject a job he likes because he doesn’t know what he will find , or it makes him avoid leaving a country he wants to discover because he doesn’t think he can survive far from home.

These fears are limiting beliefs that do not allow individuals to change or overcome even when they feel they want to or should. These fears are actually very common, and sometimes it is necessary to have the help of a personal development expert to help the person experience on his or her own skin that the beliefs he or she holds are limiting his or her true potential.

Fears that prevent growth and development

But what kinds of fears affect a person’s personal and work development? In the following lines we explain them to you.

1. Fear of failure

The fear of failure is one of the most paralyzing fears that most affect a person’s personal and professional development . It is a fear that causes a lot of suffering and has its origin in the irrational expectations a person has.

It can also be caused by what others will think of him if he does not achieve what he sets out to do, that is, he relates to the opinion of others. It is characteristic of perfectionist people, and it affects their well-being.

  • You can explore this kind of fear further in our article: “Fear of failure: when anticipating defeat immobilizes us”

Fear of uncertainty

The fear of uncertainty is related to life projects or tasks that a person can perform . For example, when someone has to accept a job but because he thinks he will not be ready he rejects it. On the other hand, the fear of uncertainty is a concept that is related to the comfort zone or that mental place in which we feel safe, regardless of whether we are happy or not in it.

The fear of uncertainty affects personal development and produces a great anxiety in the face of change, not so much because of failure or not, but because of the fear of what will be worse than what we already have. It is irrational because even if what we have is bad, it immobilizes the person in the face of change.

In short, it refers to the fear of the unknown, the fear that appears when we find it difficult to visualize the future we want.

3. Fear of rejection

Fear of rejection is a type of fear that affects interpersonal relationships and is closely related to low self-esteem. It usually affects the person mainly when it comes to finding a partner, but also other types of interpersonal relationships such as friendship or work colleagues. Fear of rejection is also associated with fear of ridicule and of looking bad in front of others.

4. Fear of loneliness

The fear of loneliness is also a fear that does not let us grow , since it makes us have behaviours of dependency towards other people, and therefore we can become null and void and we can put aside our own needs and interests in order not to be alone. People with a fear of loneliness can end up immersed in traumatic relationships and continue in them despite the pain they feel.

5. Fear of commitment

The fear of commitment is the opposite of the previous fear, because what worries the person is committing to the wrong person . This does not mean that we should be with someone by force because we can live happily when we are single, but it can cause that when we meet someone interesting, we back out and avoid being intimate with that person and give him or her our trust.

  • It is possible to be happy and single as we told you in our article “Is it possible to be single and happy? The 8 benefits of being single”

6. Fear of criticism

One of the fears that are related to the evaluation that others make of us is the fear of criticism . This fear consists of fearing the disapproval of others and that others will not like what we do. It is very disabling, for example, for people trying to succeed in the entertainment world. Fear of criticism can lead a person to perform below his or her true potential.

7. Jonah complex

The Jonah complex is also known as fear of success , and is a phenomenon that has been studied from the point of view of humanistic psychology. In fact, it is a term that Abraham Maslow spoke about in his book The Farther Reaches of Human Nature published in 1971.

The Jonah complex has to do with the highest part of the “Pyramid of Human Needs” proposed by this psychologist, that is, the concept of self-realization” or that of achieving the maximum potential that an individual possesses. For Maslow, the Jonah complex manifests itself when the person is afraid to express his best version.

  • You can learn more in our article: “Jonah complex: the curious fear of success”