It’s no surprise that with a new year comes new perspectives. “New Year, New Me” is often recited at nauseam around this time, yet meaningful change rarely happens without intentional shifts in mindset. For some, a new year inspires the desire to take more risks, but often without the deeper perspective shifts needed to support those choices.
The psychology behind risk taking is not a new topic, in fact a 2021 study examined the influence of anxiety and fear in risk taking. It is known that emotions and perceivability of tangible vs. intangible rewards affect our willingness and desire to take risks.
Folks that are risk averse, however tend to be so for many reasons and fear is one of the driving emotions. Fear in the context of risk manifests as a constant loop of doubts and worst-case scenarios:
What if things don’t work out? The fear of failure looms large, convincing you that the possibility of a negative outcome is more likely than a positive one.
What if I can’t do it? This fear feeds into feelings of inadequacy, making you question your skills, your preparation, and even your worthiness to succeed.
What if the worst thing happens? Catastrophizing kicks in, painting an exaggerated picture of disaster that feels almost impossible to recover from.
What if it’s awful? The fear of discomfort—whether it’s emotional, financial, or social—can overshadow the potential for growth or joy.
What if I can’t recover from this risk? At the heart of it all is a fear of personal fragility—the belief that failure or disappointment might break you entirely, leaving you stuck and unable to rebuild.
Fear keeps you from risk because you can’t control it. It is true that you cannot control the outcome, you don’t have a magic wand to determine the future to see if everything works out and you won’t know if this risk was the smartest thing, the most financially responsible or worth it. But what if another emotion can serve as a protective factor or cushion to offset the fear, anxiety and perception of rewards that affect your ability to lean into risks? Trust.
Can you trust in yourself enough to know that even if the fear of risk does come true, you will be able to pivot accordingly?
Do you trust yourself enough to handle disappointment or failure? When plans don’t go as expected, can you trust that you’ll feel the disappointment fully but still find the strength to move forward? Do you trust that you’ll give yourself the grace to grieve what didn’t work without staying stuck there?
Do you trust yourself to pivot when necessary? If the path you take no longer feels right, can you trust yourself to course-correct, even if it means starting over? Can you trust your intuition when it tells you to let go or try again differently?
Do you trust yourself to be honest about what’s not working? It’s easy to stay in denial when a risk doesn’t pay off, convincing yourself it’s just a matter of time or effort. But true trust is about being honest with yourself when it’s time to walk away, even if it feels like admitting "failure."
Do you trust your ability to problem-solve? Risks come with uncertainties, but trusting yourself means believing you can adapt, learn, and create solutions when challenges arise. It means knowing you don’t have to have all the answers upfront to move forward.
By choosing only safe decisions and avoiding risks, you miss opportunities to build resilience and self-trust—key elements of personal growth and success. You also limit your emotional tolerance for disappointment, your capacity for growth and your confidence in your ability to adapt and adjust when needed.
If You Don’t Trust Yourself, Why?
If the answer to those questions is no, it’s worth pausing to ask: why don’t you trust yourself? Is it a fear of repeating past mistakes? A doubt in your resilience? A sense of perfectionism that makes change feel like failure?
And if you struggle with trust, what would it take to build it? Is it self-compassion? Small, consistent steps that prove you can handle discomfort? Or maybe it’s just the willingness to try.
Let’s say the risk doesn’t work out: you move out of state and hate it, you take the job and it no longer aligns with what you want, you pursue full time entrepreneurship and it’s harder than you expected (talking to myself here too!) Can you trust yourself enough to make the necessary changes to recover, regroup, and redirect? Can you trust yourself to take action—no matter how inconvenient, uncomfortable, or humbling it might be?
The ability to take risks is less about confidence in its success and more about confidence in your ability to adapt, recover, and grow no matter the outcome.
It's about trusting your resilience to navigate uncertainty, your resourcefulness to problem-solve when things don’t go as planned, and your self-compassion to handle setbacks without giving up on yourself. Confidence in your ability to evolve, even when success isn’t guaranteed, is what makes taking risks possible.
Think about the time you hesitated to apply for a new job or end a relationship because you feared the unknown. How would that decision have changed if you'd trusted your ability to handle whatever came next?
If you trust in yourself, even the most uncertain risks become a chance to build something greater. Without that trust, the fear of failure will always outweigh the possibility of success.
Be well,
Aaliyah Nurideen, LCSW, LCSW-C
For the conversation that started this blog post, you can check out this video on my TikTok.
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