{"id":493,"date":"2011-07-06T13:34:04","date_gmt":"2011-07-06T17:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thecelebritytherapist\/?p=493"},"modified":"2011-07-06T13:34:04","modified_gmt":"2011-07-06T17:34:04","slug":"what%e2%80%99s-the-worst-thing-that-could-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thecelebritytherapist\/2011\/07\/what%e2%80%99s-the-worst-thing-that-could-happen.html","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Worst Thing That Could Happen?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Sherry Gaba <\/strong>LCSW, Psychotherapist, Life &amp; Recovery Coach is featured Celebrity Rehab on VH1. Sherry is the author of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/thelawofsobriety.com\/\">The Law of Sobriety\u201d<\/a> which uses the law of attraction to recover from any addiction. Please download your copy of \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/forms.aweber.com\/form\/34\/1360324434.htm\">Manifest Holistic Health<\/a>\u201d from Sherry\u2019s Enrich Your Life Series. Contact Sherry at <a href=\"mailto:sherry@sgabatherapy.com\">sherry@sgabatherapy.com<\/a> for webinars, teleseminars, coaching packages and speaking engagements.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thelawofsobriety.com\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-494\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/243\/2011\/07\/inquisitive-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>I have a client who\u2019s a shy but talented girl. She loves music, and decided to join the band in her high school. She learned how to play the xylophone, and really enjoys herself when she plays at band practice. But when I saw her, she had a concert coming up and she was so nervous that she was thinking of dropping out of the band.<\/p>\n<p>I asked her what she was so afraid of and she said, \u201cI\u2019m afraid I\u2019ll make mistake while I\u2019m playing.\u201d That\u2019s a fear we all have, isn\u2019t it? We\u2019re afraid we\u2019ll make a mistake\u2014especially when others are watching. Fear of making a mistake can keep us from even starting something new. Our fear ends up defeating us before we even begin.<\/p>\n<p>But my client loves to play music, and I didn\u2019t want her fear to push her into giving it up. So I asked her a simple question: \u201cIf you do make a mistake, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She thought about this for a moment, and said her fellow band members or someone in the audience might notice and say something to her about it. \u201cAnd if they did, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen?\u201d I pressed her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d be embarrassed,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd if you were embarrassed, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This time, she shrugged. \u201cI\u2019d be embarrassed.\u201d It didn\u2019t sound so scary when she said it this time. \u201cNobody would yell at you or hit you, people in the audience wouldn\u2019t throw things at you, you wouldn\u2019t be kicked out of band?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo,\u201d she admitted. Okay, we all sometimes think we\u2019d<em> die of embarrassment,<\/em> but that\u2019s just something people say; nobody actually dies of embarrassment. We just feel it and then move on. My client realized it certainly wasn\u2019t worth giving up something she loves just to avoid feeling embarrassed for a moment.<\/p>\n<p>How many times do we let fear hold us back from trying something new? When we\u2019re afraid, we create giant monsters in our mind\u2014terrible consequences if we fail. But when we stop to really examine these monsters, we see that they\u2019re just annoying little mosquitoes we can swat with ease. \u201cWhat\u2019s the worst thing that could happen?\u201d By asking yourself this simple question, you can break the hold fear has over you and free yourself from the inaction it causes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to try sushi, but I\u2019m afraid I won\u2019t like it.\u201d If you don\u2019t like it, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen? You\u2019d have to order something else and pay for both dishes, so you\u2019d be out a few dollars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to apply for that job, but I\u2019m afraid I\u2019m not qualified.\u201d If you apply and the hiring company decides you aren\u2019t qualified, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen? You won\u2019t get the job. But you don\u2019t have the job now, so you\u2019d be no worse off than you were before.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to ask that woman for a date, but I\u2019m afraid she\u2019d say no.\u201d If you ask her and she says no, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen? She might tell her friends you asked her out and she turned you down. You might be embarrassed by that. And if you were embarrassed, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen? You\u2019d be embarrassed and her friends would know you asked her out. What\u2019s the worst thing that could happen as a result? Not much.<\/p>\n<p>The best way to break through your fear is to examine it coolly and ask yourself if it\u2019s based in reality. When you do that, what\u2019s the worst thing that could happen?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sherry Gaba LCSW, Psychotherapist, Life &amp; Recovery Coach is featured Celebrity Rehab on VH1. Sherry is the author of \u201cThe Law of Sobriety\u201d which uses the law of attraction to recover from any addiction. Please download your copy of \u201cManifest Holistic Health\u201d from Sherry\u2019s Enrich Your Life Series. Contact Sherry at sherry@sgabatherapy.com for webinars, teleseminars,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":402,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,147,13,14,153,15,16],"tags":[18,23,24,26,27,29,30,34,37,39,41,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,56,64,67,69,70,72,73,75,77,78,79,80,82,83,84,85,86,87,89,92,94,96],"class_list":["post-493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12-steps","category-aa","category-addiction","category-agoura-psychotherapist-westlake-village-psychotherapist-calabasas-psychotherapist-malibu-psychoth","category-beyond-addiction","category-celebrity-addiction","category-celebrity-news","category-celebrity-rehab","category-law-of-attraction","category-law-of-sobriety","category-love-addiction","category-mental-health","category-recovery","category-sex-addiction-2","category-sobriety","category-soft-addiction","tag-actors-in-recovery","tag-addiction-specialist","tag-addictions","tag-agoura-hills","tag-agoura-hills-psychotherapist","tag-alternative-medicine","tag-binge-eating","tag-calabasas","tag-celebrity-addiction-2","tag-celebrity-rehab-2","tag-co-dependency","tag-diet","tag-dr-drew","tag-drug-addiction","tag-feelings-and-emotions","tag-food-addiction","tag-gambling-addiction","tag-health","tag-internet-addiction","tag-intervention","tag-law-of-attraction-2","tag-melody-beattie","tag-metpahysical","tag-moorpark","tag-motivation","tag-positive-action","tag-positive-change","tag-pupose","tag-recovery-2","tag-recovery-coaching","tag-recovery-information","tag-rehabilitation","tag-self-discovery","tag-self-discovery-professionals","tag-shopping-addiction","tag-simi-valley","tag-spiritual","tag-spirituality","tag-substance-abuse","tag-thousand-oaks","tag-weight-loss","tag-westlake-village-psychotherapist"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s the Worst Thing That Could Happen?  - The Celebrity Therapist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thecelebritytherapist\/2011\/07\/what\u2019s-the-worst-thing-that-could-happen.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s the Worst Thing That Could Happen?  - The Celebrity Therapist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sherry Gaba LCSW, Psychotherapist, Life &amp; Recovery Coach is featured Celebrity Rehab on VH1. 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