October 25, 2023
Breaking My Goals Into Stages
When I started my journey to overcome my anxiety, I had one goal in mind: to make a phone call. I used to be terrified of making phone calls and would only answer when my mum or sisters called. So, I decided to confront my fear head-on and take small steps towards overcoming it. So I decided breaking my goals into stages would be the best thing for me to start with.
I learned that my fear of making phone calls was worse than the reality. People were understanding and helpful. Making calls became easier with practice. I started seeing it as a chance to connect with others instead of something to dread. I didn’t want to jump right into it and randomly call someone. The idea made me sick and anxious. So, I broke it down into three smaller stages. I tackled each stage, one at a time until I felt comfortable enough to move to the next stage.
Breaking my goals into stages were as follows; Voice Notes, Phone Calls and Video Calls.
- Voice Notes – I started with small voice notes to just one person and they were literally a simple “Hi” or “How are you” and were never any longer than 5 seconds at a time, I would also never listen to them back to make sure they sounded ok, because let’s be fair who likes the sound of there own voice on a recording haha. I then built my confidence by doing just those for a few months and making them longer each time until I knew I was completely comfortable sending them to a select few people. Only then did I move on to the next stage of my goal.
- Phone Calls – This stage of my goal was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do regarding my anxiety, just the thought of a phone call would make me feel physically sick so I just kept putting it off and telling myself I couldn’t do it. Then one night I finally talked myself into doing it and managed a quick 5-minute phone call, and I don’t even know what I was so worried about. I can now say I happily do phone calls with no problem to a select few people and hope to build up that list of people over the next few months.
- Video Calls – This was the last part of breaking my goal into stages and one I thought I would never be able to overcome. It took me a long time to agree to any video calls and I’m pretty sure the first one didn’t last very long. Now I can happily do video calls to four people with no problems at all and prefer them over phone calls sometimes haha, my longest video call so far has been 6 hours.
Today, I can confidently say that I have conquered my fear of making phone calls. It may seem like a small victory to some, but for me, it represents a significant milestone in my personal growth.
Confronting your fears can be scary, but it’s important to take that first step. Start small and go at your own pace. With determination and patience, you can overcome your fears and find the courage to live a free and fulfilling life.
xoxo
