Title: 
Missed Shots: When People Don't Take The Opportunities Given To Them

Word Count:
586

Summary:
People can sometimes miss out on opportunities simply because they gave in to their fear of failure. Others let opportunities pass by because they believe that it can come their way again. However, the truth is that opportunities are rare and second chances are rarer still.


Keywords:
fear and anxiety, anxiety, social anxiety, status anxiety


Article Body:
It will happen to each person more than once, as certain points in one's life are guaranteed to happen unless one withdraws from the world completely. The more one goes through life, the more times one encounters a situation that will require the person to make a decision that can prove critical to current and future events. It is natural to feel a little anxiety at certain points in your life, particularly when you're dealing with something that might have life-changing consequences no matter how it turns out. A touch of fear and anxiety is perfectly natural in a number of situations, but a problem can emerge when the person lets that fear and anxiety prevent them from crossing the line in the sand.

There are several moments where one might feel so much anxiety that it seems like a better idea not to do what one has set out to do. However, this would generally be categorized as a mistake in most cases, particularly if there is nothing particularly life-threatening about the planned action. Life, by its nature and by the nature of the world around us, is fraught with risk. Navigating these risks is something that every person has to learn, and perhaps in an instinctive level, people have a basic understanding of how to go about that. The riskier something is, the greater the potential rewards tend to be, even if we don't initially see those rewards. To let one's anxiety get in the way of taking that step forward in one's romantic, social, or professional dealings is to let an opportunity slip by at the risk of never having that chance crop up again.

Fear and anxiety keeps people from jumping into situations and making decisions that are simply unsound or pose too much risk, but they can also sometimes cloud one's eyes from seeing an opportunity. There have been numerous business opportunities that have passed people by simply because they gave in to the anxiety they initially felt at being shown the prospect. This is perhaps some sort of psychological hang-up, as people tend to focus on the potential risks of any sort of venture and tend to view them as being more significant than the potential gains. People can also sometimes let their anxiety take control and cloud their ability to make proper judgments on what course of action should be taken.

This problem does not necessarily generate problems only for people who have social anxiety or status anxiety. In fact, the problem is can manifest in people from all walks of life, including some people that can be considered “risk-takers.” It generally manifests when a person is faced with a decision to be made or an action to be taken, with the context of said activity being outside the scope of things that the person is comfortable with. This discomfort, which can be compounded by a lack of knowledge or a variety of emotional factors, can make giving in to the anxiety a rather appealing option at the time. These factors can cause someone to lose their ability to assess the risks and benefits properly, which can result in a sudden fit of indecision.

Some people have suggested that to overcome the fear and anxiety that one feels, it is best to be reminded of what the opportunity represents. Some experts claim that mentally reminding oneself that “you only get one shot” can sometimes be enough to make the risks worth taking, despite the anxiety that the person feels.


