I’m not a therapist; I’m a career coach. In my role, I help individuals find a career direction, refine their job search strategy, and overcome challenges as employees or business owners. Fear is dripping off every one of those scenarios.

Your career is central to your security and your self-esteem. When it’s off track or flat out broken, your anxiety spikes, for very good reasons. However, fear also clouds your judgment, so you must find a way to calm down and think clearly.

I know, easier said than done. You can’t just flip a switch and control your fight or flight reaction to complex problems. Or can you?

Long ago, a wise mentor responded to my anxiety about not knowing what to do with my life with a question. “Are you angry?” I found this question a bit annoying and mostly irrelevant. Angry about what? No, I’m afraid, afraid of making a mistake, of living a miserable life, and never reaching my potential. What does anger have to do with it?

Fear kept me paralyzed. I kept waiting for the anxiety to evaporate or dissolve. It never did. It was my companion, draining me of energy and efficiency. I felt stuck.

One evening after several months of poor sleep and persistent anxiety, I got an idea. What if I get angry about being anxious? I set out for a walk in the relatively safe confines of the college campus where I lived. I marched into the darkness, down a path by myself.

I got mad and I was loud. Fortunately, no one heard me, and I was able to rant and rave in private. I was genuinely fed up with fear. I spent about two hours walking a spewing my rage, and then calmly returned to my dorm and went to sleep.



It worked; my free-floating anxiety was substantially diminished. It turns out that anxiety and fear are connected. Fear keeps you trapped, where anger moves you forward. I share this hoping it helps you consider a different approach if anxiety is holding you back.