Have you noticed how fear shows up right when you’re about to make a move in your business, like going live for the first time, launching something new, or even raising your prices? Your heart starts racing, your stomach tightens, and your thoughts get louder. This is completely normal. But the real question is, is that fear a sign of growth, or is something actually off? Not all fear is the same. Some fear leads to expansion, and some fear is a signal that you are overriding yourself. And if you don’t understand the difference, it can quietly shape every decision you make in your business without you even realising it.
This is where things can become confusing. When you don’t understand the difference, you can either hold yourself back from opportunities that are actually right for you, or push yourself into situations that don’t feel aligned and call it progress. This blog will help you see where that line actually is, so you can start recognising what your body is telling you instead of second-guessing every move you make. It’s about bringing clarity to something that often feels overwhelming, so your next steps feel steadier and more certain. You don’t need to remove fear. You just need to understand it.
Here’s what you’ll learn in this post:
- Why fear shows up in business and what it is actually trying to do
- The difference between growth fear and protective fear
- How this confusion shows up in your decisions without you realising
- Why you might be mixing up intuition with self-sabotage
By the end of this, you’ll start to recognise your own signals more clearly, so fear stops feeling like something to fight and becomes something you can actually work with. Time to dive in
Fear Speaks Through the Body First
I have said it in so many posts and so many podcast episodes. Your body speaks to you. When you listen you are able to understand what is happening a lot quicker. This makes it easier to run your business.
We may not know that our fear is physical first before it is logical. Your body reacts before your mind creates a story. And the reason for that is something called the reptilian brain (survival mechanism). We needed this when we lived in caves as it kept us alive and we still need it during an emergency situations. This fear though is not needed in business as we don’t have this survival danger in our businesses.
Practicing feeling sensations and emotions within your body helps you to understand how fear shows up for you and whether it is helpful fear or not. One way to do this is to place your hands somewhere on your body and notice what sensations you feel. What thoughts come up. I was taught, through my upbringing and my career, subtly and not so subtly that I didn’t have the answers, I didn’t know my body. Because of this it took awhile for me to connect to my body, and the sensations in a deeper way.
Another way to learn how to connect to your body is to stop as soon as a sensation or emotion comes through and talk to it. Yes I did say talk to it. This is acknowledgment and your body wants this.
I want you to understand before we move on that your body is information. It isn’t the enemy.
Why Fear Stops So Many Women in Business
Fear can be misunderstood and when it is it leads to:
- Avoidance
- Playing small
- Staying in survival mode
We may have built our business whilst we were in survival mode ourselves and we may not have realised this. Now it is time to build the business on energy that is expansive and this is where the fear can stop us being in this energy. If you treat all fear as danger than you don’t move forward in your business and you don’t grow personally or as a businesswoman in a way that you feel you should be or that you want to. If you ignore all fear than you override your intuition.
It’s not fear that stops you. It’s misreading it
What “Good Fear” Feels Like (Growth Fear)
What do I mean when I talk about good fear? This is the fear that helps us to expand, be visible and grow. It can come about by being seen as you are putting out content which makes you more visible. You might be raising your prices, making bold decisions or stepping into the next level in your business. This fear is uncomfortable yet it isn’t unsafe. It is helping us to expand our comfort zone which is so needed in business. We can’t stay where we are. We do need to grow in whatever way that looks like for us.
How it can feel for you although not limited to these:
- Stretchy, not shrinking
- Nervous but alive underneath
- Pulled forward, even if uncomfortable
- A sense of movement toward something
The more you work with your body the more of these you will discover. You could even use a notebook to write down the differences between fears so that you come to a quicker understanding as time goes by.
Growth fear carries expansion energy underneath all of those nerves
What “Bad Fear” Feels Like (Protective Fear)
This kind of fear is the survival, protective fear. It can save your life. We all need this fear and it isn’t something to dampen down or dismiss. This fear is real. Let me say that again. This fear is real.
Have you ever felt like something feels off even after your logic brain said no there isn’t? Or it lingers there as a warning, not a challenge. It can also be like there is no grounded steadiness underneath this fear.
How it can feel:
- Contracting or closing in
- Tight, heavy, inward
- Urgency or pressure (“decide now”)
- There is movement that feels like you want to pull back or run
This fear isn’t “bad.” It’s protective. Like stepping back from danger without thinking. Nurture this fear so you understand and react quickly and yes I said react. This is the time that you want to react and not respond.
Why We Confuse the Two
You may have grown up where you were taught that there were two extremes.
1. Override discomfort
- Push through everything
- Ignore red flags
- Call it bravery
2. Avoid risk completely
- Play safe
- Avoid growth
- Label expansion as “not aligned”
What happens when you do this is that the expansion energy feels like danger and danger gets mistaken for ambition. Many people were taught this and then passed it down to us. We then get taught other things through school and work. There is where the mind distorts what the body is saying to you.
The Real Skill Is Learning to Read Fear
We don’t want to eliminate fear because as I said we need the survival fear. The goal is to understand which fear is which so you know how to react or respond.
Notice what happens:
- Growth fear:
- Settles when you breathe so ensure that you breathe into the sensation.
- Has steadiness underneath
- It helps you to slow decisions down
- Protective fear:
- Gets louder
- Feels more urgent
- You want to shrink or run away
The question to ask here is “Does this feel like expansion or contraction?”
Building Self-Trust Through the Body
Your body holds the answer before your mind does. It pays to learn to listen to it as the mind will try to talk you out of thing. Whereas the body has the answers that you need.
When you ignore your body it shows up as:
- Forcing decisions
- Ignoring red flags
- Avoiding growth you actually want
Practices:
- Ask your body, not just your thoughts
- Look for:
- Openness vs tightness
- Forward pull vs pulling away
- Calm underneath the nerves
- Keep a notebook to jot done all the understandings that you have
- Regular bare feet on the grass to ground your energy
- Courses/Retreat/Memberships/Masterminds that can help you learn about your body, mindset, somatic practice are very helpful.
- Meditation/Visualisations/Hypnosis is helpful in quietening the mind
Important truth:
- Nerves are normal and can be very helpful
- Even aligned action can feel uncomfortable
Growth fear has a quiet knowing beneath it and as you growth your practice this quiet knowing can become louder so you don’t have to go searching for it.
Fear becomes powerful when you understand it because fear isn’t the enemy. It’s guidance. Sometimes fear is expansion and sometimes it is a pause. Both of these are valuable for you. When you learn the difference between a stretch and a red flag you stop second-guessing yourself, forcing, avoiding, and you start moving forward with real self-trust.
Understanding your body takes time and patience. Be gentle with yourself and celebrate everything that achieve. Be grateful for this chance to change your life and business that your family and friends may not have had.
If you want to learn more about fear you can listen to these Podcast Episodes:
The Difference Between ‘Good” and “Bad” Fear
Fear Isn’t The Problem. Misreading It Is
