Life is rarely happening on the black and white board, most things are in the grey spectrum – this is one the most important thoughts of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) that I had the privilege to practice through the NHS a few years ago. Since then, I became very passionate about the subject and devised a ‘Thought disputing sheet’ that I have put onto my Vision Board to remind myself that it is very important to challenge my thoughts on a daily basis to reach a realistic state.

CBT has a very important practice to challenge fears, called Exposure Therapy. This involves exposing ourselves to our fears but in a gradual and structured manner. The process starts with establishing the main goal to be achieved and then breaking it down into small steps which are subsequently ordered by anxiety level. The activities that are the least anxiety-provoking are started until the anxiety goes away or reduced to a manageable level and then a more complex activity is pursued until the overarching goal is finally achieved. This greatly expands the comfort zone and is recommended to everyone as a self-development goal regardless of what state an individual is at as everyone has some form of fears and fobias that are holding back our progress in certain areas of our lives.

Knowing that I would like to progress further in my career, I have set a few goals in this area for the upcoming months and I will closely observe myself and collect the lessons learnt so that I can use it moving forwards for any new future endeavours.