Being afraid is normal, it is something that unites us all and is part of our human existence. Fear is a legacy of our animal life: its purpose is to prepare us to face potentially dangerous situations and save our lives. Today, however, being afraid is something that rarely saves our life. More than anything else it severely limits our potentials and prevents us from undertaking action. Fear may limit you in various ways.
For example, it could make you doubt your worth, or it could prevent you from making well-thought decisions or it could make you desist from particular initiatives that you would like to pursue. In any case, fear always seems to be a limitation and a conditioning. Despite this, the fear of something can also represent a challenge: think of the satisfaction you could feel by facing your fear with your head held high and defeating it. Fear could also become an engine or motivator for your actions pushing you towards difficult but rewarding goals.
Obviously this is something that is not easy to put into practice and that may indeed feel impossible at first sight. Even so, trying will cost you a lot less than you think even if you fail. The real pain you can feel in life is only the regret of not having experienced something for the fear of failure. If you manage to maintain this maxim in your head, you can also use your fears as a push towards the goal you so long for. To do this, however, it is necessary to go through some small steps, let’s see what they are.
Recognize and admit that you are afraid
The hardest thing to do to fight your fear is to recognize it and admit it out loud to yourself: none of us would ever want to say I am afraid of this , yet it must be done. As long as you don’t want to recognize your fears, you will not be able to do anything to stop them.
This is why it is essential that the first step is an introspection: you have to find out exactly what frightens you and for what reasons. Always ask yourself why you get upset so much in certain situations or in comparison with certain people. In this way you will also be able to better understand how your soul works. Turning uncertainty into a known structure will also help you identify new and more effective solutions.
Understanding the worst case scenario
This is very popular advice because it is very effective: fully understanding what the worst consequences and what the worst future scenario could be will help you understand that your life will remain almost unchanged no matter what happens. There are no consequences so damaging as to change who you are or reduce your value, so you should learn to be even less afraid of failure.
You will see that when you are aware of everything that could happen to you you will also be more inclined to avoid it: you will make sure that the worst-case scenario does not materialize.
Challenge yourself whenever you can
This is not an incentive or an encouragement to become a stuntman or to take on risky or life-threatening actions. Challenging yourself whenever possible means having the courage to face your daily fears.
If something scares you but you also realize that it is ultimately irrational, you should consider a possible little shock therapy to solve this problem. By facing failures sooner or later you will also be able to win and overcome your fears. Focus on the ultimate goal, which is the joy of being able to say I did it, I am finally free.
Written By Tyara Wolf
Psychology and Personal Development
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