404-418-8244
October 2017
WWW.DAVIDBRAUNS.COM 75 SATELLITE BOULEVARD, SUITE 325, DULUTH, GEORGIA 30096
How Do We Face Our Fears? To Lose It All
With Halloween coming up, fear is often a theme of October. Scary movie marathons take up the weekends, kids beg to visit a haunted house, and fake blood is a staple of many Halloween decorations. But while the fears of Halloween are all for fun, in fact, fear is a big psychological drive for us — especially the fear of loss. If you’re afraid to lose what you have, you may never take the necessary risks in life for growth, and you can get stuck. This can lead to a person becoming less assertive about their needs and ultimately losing what they wanted to keep in the first place. That being said, fear of loss isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Last month, I talked about a time when my family lost everything when I was 14. Fear of losing a secure lifestyle pushed me to overcome great challenges and do more in life than I would have initially thought possible. In personal injury law, a fear of loss can be difficult to manage. As a lawyer, I needed to learn when to leave an offer on the table because my client could get more in a trial. There’s an underlying fear that I might be wrong. When an offer has a lot of zeroes, it can be easy to worry you won’t see a bigger number down the road. But when I know there’s a possibility I can get more for my client and they can be better taken care of, I can’t let a fear of loss dictate my moves. In my career, I have also learned to help my clients address their fear of loss. When you suffer from an injury and lose your paycheck (as is the case with clients in a personal injury case), your life can quickly fall apart. It may only be two to four weeks, but that’s more than enough time for the dominos to fall, creating immense financial pressure. My clients have good reason to fear loss. Unable to pay their bills, they risk losing their cellphone, their car, and even the roof over their head. There’s a lot of time between the day
“ My clients have good
reason to fear loss. Unable to pay their bills, they risk losing their cellphone, their car, and even the roof over their head. ”
you get injured and the day you finally receive the settlement check. While clients struggle to survive in no man’s land, we do what we can to see they reach the other side. We’ve done everything from finding support groups and shelters to helping clients apply for the right loans that can get them through tough spots. In some situations, we have even reached out to landlords and asked them to please bear with us until our client has the ability to get on top of their payments. This is a scary time for people, but I’ve found the best way to overcome your fears is to remember that you don’t have to face them alone. We deal with this every day, and whatever we can do to help the client, we’re prepared to do it. - David Brauns
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