Individual Counseling For Dealing With Fear Of Rejection

Individual Counseling For Dealing With Fear Of Rejection Take Charge,Inc. Image via Adobe Stock

 
Individual counseling at Take Charge, Inc. can help you deal with and overcome fear of rejection. Most of us get a bit nervous in situations where we might experience rejection, but for some this fear can become overwhelming and keep us from moving forward in our lives.
 
Fear of rejection can be caused by many underlying issues. If those issues are not addressed in therapy, that fear of rejection can grow to impact our lives in bigger and more difficult ways.
 

What Does Fear Of Rejection Look Like?

If you are afraid of rejection, you probably frequently put the needs and wants of others before your own. You may struggle with saying ‘no’ and setting boundaries. Even just answering the telephone can be overwhelming. Other signs of fear of rejection may include:
  • People-pleasing behavior
  • Taking on too many responsibilities
  • Overworking yourself
  • Hiding your true thoughts/feelings from others
  • Staying in unhealthy relationships
  • Fear of failure
  • Perfectionism
  • Codependency
  • Allowing yourself to be treated poorly by others

 

How Fear of Rejection Inhibits Success

Fear of rejection presents differently for different people, but it tends to make it difficult or impossible to grow or succeed in many ways, both personal and professional.
 
Fear of rejection can cause physical symptoms like sweating, shaking, fidgeting, avoiding eye contact, and even losing the ability to effectively communicate. These symptoms are sometimes interpreted as a lack of confidence or authority in job interviews or business dealings, which can make the fear of rejection a self-fulfilling prophecy.
 
Difficulty talking to strangers or even acquaintances can prevent us from making crucial connections with others. Beyond friendships, peer, and work relationships, dating and marriage can be extremely difficult for those with fear of rejection.
 

Overcoming Fear Of Rejection In Individual Counseling

Individual counseling can help you examine and better understand where your fear is coming from and find better ways to cope and move forward. A few things you can start working on right now include:
  • Improving Self-Regulation Skills – Self-regulation is the ability to identify and control your emotions and behaviors. When you can identify negative thoughts that make you feel fearful, you can take action to reframe your thoughts in a way that is more positive and optimistic.
  • Face the Fear – The typical coping response to fear of rejection is avoidance. This is problematic because it ultimately only magnifies the feelings of fear. The only way to defeat the fear is to face it head on. Intentionally putting yourself in situations where you might face rejection helps you get better at coping with it. Often we find that it is much less stressful than we feared.
  • Develop Resilience – Resilience is the ability to move forward with optimism and confidence after a setback. Setting goals and taking steps to build your confidence in your own abilities, good self-care practices, and a strong support system make it much easier to recover from rejection.
 
Through counseling at Take Charge, you can learn how to bring your emotions to the front and center to be dealt with and to bring healing to your life. Terri Dichiser has a unique way of helping you not only address individual issues but open the door to expand the scope of those individual issues to incorporate the significant relationships in your life. Some or all of these relationships can play a part, whether small or significant, in the stresses in your life and how you move beyond them to a place of well-being.
 
For more information about individual counseling in Johnson County, KS, call Take Charge, Inc. at (913) 239-8255. To schedule an appointment, click here.

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