A couple of years ago, I attended a virtual seminar through my employer. The speaker was Judi Holler, a woman who has gone from fleeing an improv class, to teaching others how to overcome their fears, resistance to change, and be capable of grasping opportunities in their lives.

The horrible fact about human nature is, if it’s different, it makes us uneasy. Different might mean moving to a new home, changing schools, transitioning to a new role in your career, or even a change in relationship status. We are driven, at an instinctive level, to keep going with what we know. This is especially true when we’ve been able to find stability where we are. I think, for myself, it was best expressed when I mentioned wishing I could find a position in another company. My resistance at the outset was, “No one else will pay me what I make now. I can’t afford to make less.”

One person, just one, shook my entire mindset by dropping the statement, “You don’t have to make less. You can make more.”

There I was, wanting to move forward with my career and improve my life. I was so bound up in the worries about not finding something equal to what I had that it never occurred to me that I could find better.

Since that moment, I keep revisiting the podcasts created by Judi Holler. They speak much more clearly to me now. I’ve looked at myself, my reactions to things, and where I’ve failed to make progress. There was one instance where gaining ground was not stopped by my own fear of changing things.

Challenge yourself. Look at what you do to hold yourself back. If you’re settling for what you have out of fear of not finding what you want or need, start rooting that fear out. Conquer yourself, and then conquer the world.