I was talking to one of my team the other day about relationships. In the past he’d suffered terribly with approach anxiety. He told me how he’d spend all night in a bar, seeing women he’d love to meet, but was so paralysed by fear he wouldn’t approach them. One woman from years ago in particular stuck in his mind. They’d been talking for a while and got on really well. They’d go out on “dates”, laugh, and generally have a really good time. 

He was starting to fall for her, but he was so afraid of rejection, and so stuck in his head, he convinced himself she wouldn’t want him. In fact, he friend-zoned himself! 
 
He watched this woman he was falling in love with, have failed relationship after failed relationship with other men, and still wouldn’t tell her how he felt. He assumed she knew and just wanted to be friends. After a year or two he gave up on his “love”, and after a brief fling, found himself expecting a baby with another woman. He loved his new girlfriend and he wanted to be a good father, but he still wondered “what if” he’d have told his friend how he felt. 
 
One night when they were chatting on the phone he finally broke it to her.  “You know I was totally in love with you when we met don’t you?”
 
Do you know what’s she said? 
 
This woman he’d loved from a distance, told him she felt the same about him. She thought he only wanted to be friends and was so afraid on rejection she hadn’t confessed to her true feelings. They were both in love with each other, but so afraid of rejection they’d hidden their true feelings. Now it was too late. They remain friends to this day, but here’s the lesson…
 
Don’t let fear of rejection hold you back from showing your feelings. If you meet a girl and you want to see her again, tell her. If you want to take your relationship to the next level with someone, tell them. Sure, nobody likes rejection but it feels a whole lot better than knowing you missed out on something you could have had. It’s like the old saying goes, regret the things you’ve done, not the things you haven’t. 
 
Will my guy and his new family love happily ever after? 
 
Could he and his friend have been an amazing couple? 
 
Maybe, maybe not, but now we’ll never know, and I can tell you from experience that feels much worse than any rejection you could ever face!