David, I do not feel your support, I only get your critical edge, and I m tired of living in fear that everything we do can and will be used against us. And yet, persistent, pervasive or undiscussable fear must be surfaced and addressed. There s so much more to having a safe work environment than standing up to bullies or being outspoken in meetings.
All emotions are, in essence, impulses to act.
However, fear is designed to protect us from harm, to automatically move us away from the perceived danger to run or hide in a cave until it s safe. You may not recognize this state as fear. The human body doesn t know the difference physiologically between fear and excitement they re both elevated states but excitement is definitely more fun. Given that we d prefer to have a vote in deciding our future, the workplace can bring up a litany of concerns many of which are outside of our direct control. When small concerns remain unexpressed they snowball and multiply.