When is fear helping you, and when is it holding you back?

[Anna Nomas]

I'm struggling to tell the difference between my higher intuition and unnecessary fear.

I often feel fearful and anxious before doing things, especially social things. Sometimes I pay attention to those feelings because they're my intuition telling me that the situation is not right. Other times, my intuition tells me that the experience is worth pursuing despite of anxiety, and that I need to move through the fear to grow. 

Sometimes I can't tell which is the case. 

How do you know when anxiety/fear is showing you a "red flag" that a situation is not suited for you, versus when it's just holding you back from your potential? 

[Spiritual Warrior]

This is an interesting question. You want to push yourself in order to grow, but you don't want to push too much and overwhelm yourself.

I think for me, if I am anxious about a situation but I am able to visualize myself going and doing it and it going well, then I should pursue it. If this is the case, then it turns into an excited sort of anxious.

However, if I am anxious about a situation and I cannot help but continually have a negative visualization of the future event in my head, then it's probably too much for me right now and I should steer clear. 

[Anna Nomas]

@Spiritual Warrior I like that you specified part of your visualization is being able to imagine yourself doing it well, turning some focus inward, versus focusing only on the external circumstances. That's a helpful way to gain some clarity