The Hidden Price of Playing It Safe
Step out of your comfort zone.
How many of us stay in the same place, hide away, and avoid the things that scare us? But by running from those fears, we are holding ourselves back from living the best life possible.
Fear comes in many forms: past trauma, our upbringing, health anxiety, or the dread that something bad might happen.
From a spiritual point of view, we should not fear doing hard things because the universe has our back. Our angels and spirit guides are there to support us when things get tough. Plus, you chose this life plan before you were incarnated, meaning the difficult moments you face are likely life lessons designed to help you grow. It is true what they say: growth cannot happen when we are too comfortable. If you stay comfy, you will never change or move beyond where you are right now.
From a psychological view, it is not healthy to hide away from things just because you are scared, provided it is actually getting in the way of what you want to do. If something scares you and you have zero desire to do it anyway, why put yourself through it? For example, I am terrified of swimming with sharks, but I have no need or want to do that, so there is no point forcing it. But when I feel scared of flying, it stops me from traveling. That directly impacts my life, which means I am adapting to live with an unhealthy fear. That is a clear sign I need to face it so I can keep growing.
Of course, facing fear is not easy. That is why so many people push their fears deep down and rearrange their lives to accommodate them. But how much fear can you carry before it eats away at you? If you keep burying more and more as you get older, you eventually become so full of fear that you lose your true self. You turn into a shell of a person.
We can face our fears in a safe, healthy way without pushing too hard at the start. If you rush it, you can easily experience a setback that pushes you back even further. CBT therapy helps you change how your brain thinks about a situation. Exposure therapy slowly introduces you to what scares you little by little until your brain accepts it. Hypnotherapy and other holistic therapies work really well, too. It is also smart to visit your doctor to see what support they can offer when fears start impacting your daily life.
When facing a fear, writing down a plan helps. Lets say you are scared to fly. You can map out every single step before getting on the plane: you get up, shower, pack your luggage, travel to the airport, grab food, and stand in the queue. Writing it down, visualising it, or even practicing small parts of it in the days leading up to the flight helps trick your brain into seeing that it is not a catastrophe. This takes the edge off the stress for the actual day.
Many of us mask our fears with soothing habits like alcohol, overeating, or trying to run away to another country to distract ourselves. But your fears pack their bags and come with you. When the novelty of a new place wears off, the fears are right back where they started. Facing them head-on is the only way to finally live fully. Letting go of all that stored fear and unprocessed emotion also relieves physical tension, stress, and mystery illnesses.
Step 1: Write down what your fear is. Say it out loud and admit what you are scared of. You do not need to take action yet, but you must stop hiding from the thought of it. Acknowledge that this is a fear you have been carrying.
Step 2: Become comfortable with the idea of taking action eventually. Sit with the thought. You do not need to move immediately, but you need to accept that change is coming.
Step 3: Decide how you want to get support. Do you want to see a doctor or try holistic therapy first? Keep in mind that support alone will not erase the fear; at some point, you will still need exposure therapy. Therapists, doctors, and holistic practitioners are there to give you a safety net so you do not break down when you finally start facing things.
Step 4: Spend time utilising your chosen method of support. Talk about the fear, recognise it, and practice keeping it from consuming you.
Step 5: When you are ready, and with your support system in place, begin exposing yourself to the fear very slowly, one tiny step at a time. This is not a race, and it will not clear up in a few days. Your nervous system needs time to learn that it is safe.
When I caught Covid for the first time, it triggered costochondritis, which is severe inflammation in the chest. I was in agony every single moment of every day for three months and could not breathe properly. Doctors kept telling me it would pass and was not fatal, but I genuinely thought I was going to die, and the pain made me stop eating. That ordeal is actually why I started going to Reiki. My CBT therapist suggested it to help calm my nervous system as I recovered, and it marked the true start of my healing journey.
What I learned through that experience is that your body naturally defaults to the last memory of a traumatic experience. After that, I became terrified of catching even a regular cold or Covid in case the costochondritis came back. I kept myself locked inside, too scared to ride buses or go out in public. But eventually, I did catch a common cold, and the costochondritis didn't return. Each time I got sick and stayed inflammation-free, my nervous system learned that I was safe. It stopped dragging me back to the memory of that first awful bout of Covid.
We have to actively teach our nervous systems that we are safe. It is okay to experience things that scare us, because that is how we teach our bodies to heal.
If there is a fear holding you back from living the life you want, are you ready to start facing it?
© 2026 Laura Noonan Reiki. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without prior written permission. Attribution is required for all shared insights.
