It's Normal To Be Scared Of Love: How To Overcome The Fear

So many people are scared of relationships because they have a fear of love. What lives inside of this urge is the subconscious awareness that to love means to open yourself to the possibility of getting hurt by losing the one you love or being rejected by them. If you pull back from the relationship, you limit the intimacy and, consequently, hedge your bets against the risk.

We have so many defenses to protect ourselves from the risk of loss. Some of these defenses are obvious and well known: We use sarcasm or dry humor to diminish moments of vulnerability. We create distractions like work and all forms of busyness. We constantly check our smartphones or become addicted to screens. We may not realize it, but these are all ways the fear of love manifests.

Other defense mechanisms that prohibit intimacy are more subtle. These forms of protection occur in the realm of the mind and usually manifest as doubt. While there is a place for healthy doubt (especially if there are red flags in the relationship that need your attention), doubt in a healthy relationship is a very subtle and sneaky defense mechanism that, at its root, is the fear of loss.

This is complicated, so let me explain. We've all been hurt. We've all experienced rejection, ridicule, teasing, abandonment, and other experiences that have led to heartbreak and the belief that "I am not enough." It seems almost impossible to grow up in this culture without absorbing this lie about yourself. Few people make it to adulthood unscathed from the overt and covert forms of rejection by caregivers, peers, siblings, teachers, or first lovers.

The belief is also absorbed from the culture itself, for it cannot be denied that we live in a culture of "not-enoughness." The cultural message says: You're not thin enough, fit enough, healthy enough, successful enough; you're not feeding your kids enough vegetables or setting enough limits; you don't meditate enough or practice enough yoga; you don't have enough style, friends, or fun. In short, you're just not quite right because you're not enough.

Once the belief of "I'm not enough" takes hold, it determines many of your decisions regarding intimate relationships. And when you finally do meet a partner who is available, loving, caring, honest, and every other quality you've been waiting for (as opposed to dating unavailable people who had one foot out the door), this latent, silent belief kicks in and the self-protective thought, "You don't love him enough" or "You're not attracted to her enough" is quick on its heels.

Now, instead of addressing your core belief that you're not enough, you've made your partner not enough. Now, instead of you being in the vulnerable position of exposing yourself to the risk of being hurt or rejected, you've positioned yourself into the one-up position of holding the power. Now, instead of allowing the relationship to deepen in intimacy with an unknown end (as we never know what will happen when we commit to one person), the ego, in the power position, will try to convince you to run, thereby controlling the outcome.

You may know immediately that you carry the belief of "I'm not enough." But for others, even contacting this belief can take a long time. Once you're aware of it, the healing work becomes replacing it with the truth, which is, of course, that you are enough. You are loved. You are whole.

Ultimately, the only way to love with your whole heart is to make peace with the possibility that you might get hurt. It's our lot as human beings: Our time here is finite, and we will, at some point, separate from everyone that we love (even if it's after a 60-year marriage). The ego believes the loss will hurt less if we shut down the passageways of the heart.

But it doesn't work that way: Loss hurts no matter what. So you may as well love fully while you have the chance, and trust that, somehow, you will recover from the shattering heartbreak of loss.

It's an interesting paradox: The more fully you love, the more deeply you will grieve when you lose the one you love, and the more likely it is you'll be able to love wholeheartedly again.