Chapter 11
Overcome Your Fear of Personal Relationships and Find Value
Yet, personal relationships are a critical part of what makes humans human, not to mention that it is important to our overall health and well being and can also benefit us professionally.
If you find it difficult to make personal relationships, it is important that you face your fears and move past them.
About the Fear of Personal Relationships
Personal relationships come in many different shades – they might include close colleagues, friends, or even a romantic connection. Each type of relationship is different, but they all have the same base requirements: making a connection.
People who have a fear of personal relationships have a fear of allowing this connection to occur. It does not mean that they avoid talking to people all together – in fact, some people who have a fear of personal relationships can be downright social butterflies, socializing comfortably with complete strangers. It isn’t necessarily the socialization that they fear; it is the long term relationship.
People who experience a fear of developing and maintaining personal relationships often experience the following feelings, thoughts, and symptoms:
Personally, people who fear personal relationships have a tendency to end up alone. Sure, to them it is by their choice, however, it is a sad existence to go through life never connecting to another in a lasting way. It also removes their options to fall in love, experience building a life with someone, having children, and any number of other life experiences.
The fear of personal relationships – though personal – can extend into our personal and professional lives. And though it may not be as polarizing as other conditions, it is certainly not without its negative repercussions.
Take control of your life and begin opening doors that you didn’t know existed by facing your fear and overcoming it for good.
Overcoming the Fear of Personal Relationships
Overcoming a fear of personal relationships often requires various forms of cognitive and behavioral therapy. This fear could be rooted in any number of experiences, such as having been hurt deeply by a friend or abandoned and rejected by a former romantic interest. By exploring these feelings and experiences, we are able to better learn about the fear’s origins and begin to build resistance to the fear and open receptiveness.