Fear of success...... I would put that right up there with fear of the unknown!
Now when it comes to sobriety, for me I did have a huge fear of succeeding at staying sober because it had been so long since I had faced life with out a drink in my hand or in my immediate future that I had absolutely no idea what life would be like sober, especially long term, no escape from reality or problems in my future, that scared the heck out of me!
What got me through the early stages of my fear of success at staying sober was so many other people in the fellowship that had stayed sober for many years and they were for the most part successful in life overall, they were happy, and they had an air of self confidence and serenity. Their long term sobriety and what it brought to them gave me the hope that I too could succeed and be glad I did and not scared.
Matt I too have been an over achiever, but in retrospect, one primary reason I had little to no fears of success in areas I have succeeded in was because of the success of others in the same area that I knew about.
In other words seeing others success in areas has helped me in overcoming my fear of the unknown.
Before I got into AA I had no face to face idea that people like me were able to stay sober and lead fullfilling lifes, before alcohol owned me out right, I would quit drinking and then life became real, I had no idea if it was possible to face it long term sober, this was looking back on it one of the main reasons I would start drinking again, I was miserable and scared that if I did stay sober that life would stay just as miserable as it was with out a drink. I had no hope! In AA I found that hope.
BTW this line here Matt I found a bit confusing:
This topic has been showing up a lot lately. It probably belongs in Secular, and there might be a threadd about it that I've missed.
I'm reading "Self-Discipline in 10 Days: How to Go from Thinking to Doing"
Why would this belong in secular? Do not get me wrong, I am not saying it would not have been accepted in Secular, but this is an excellent topic in any forum here.