What are you afraid of? Most people think about bugs, spiders, snakes, heights, or maybe public speaking. Do you know why its a fear? Maybe you’ve been bitten by a spider or snake. Or thats been engrained into you. Have you fallen from somewhere high or is it just the thought you could fall? Would something bad happen if you were speaking to a crowd big or small? Or does the thought of something terrible happening terrify you?
All of these are fears, yes. So many times, these are things that we make up in our minds and never actually happen. As human beings, we’re wired to be afraid of things. Back in the hunting/gathering days fear kept humans alive. They might have been afraid to eat something because they didn’t know if it would kill them. (I guess quick antidotes didn’t exist in that time) Either way, fear is something our body does to keep us alive. However these days, many things we’re afraid of have no danger attached to them.
Fear now days might be still eating if you have an allergy that could cause a deadly reaction. I’m learning about these as I now have a child with severe food allergies. It would make sense for me to be afraid to give him anything with peanut in it (one of two allergies) out of the chance that it could potentially kill him.
Good fear on the other hand….something new that causes you to get out of your comfort zone. You may have a knot in your gut because you don’t know how people will react, what they might say or think. There might be someone who disagrees with you. But you’re not in dangers. Just out of your comfort zone.
Some ways i’ve learned to combat good fear on my own:
–Talk about your fear out loud. This might sound stupid. Have you ever said something to yourself and then talked about it to someone and immediatley said “that sounded different in my head.” Same thing with fear. Call it out. When you call it out, it somehow takes away the power has over you (maybe not all, but quite a bit)
–Do something anyway. As stated earlier, there is no deadly danger in so many fears (at least i hope not) If you can learn to use your fear as adrenaline and prove yourself wrong, that you actually can do something, you begin to loose that fear. You realize that it wasn’t so bad. Comfort zone Expanded!!!! I’ve had to do something and then walk away from it for an extended period of time so i didn’t undo it.
–Ask Yourself Why You’re Afraid. Lots of fear is from an irrational place that we come up with in our mind. Things that could potentially happen, but haven’t yet. (and might not!) If you can talk (or write) yourself through being afraid about something, you might come to realize there really isn’t much to be afraid of.
–Face Your Fear Head On: this is along the same lines as some other but I still like to mention it because it has such strong phrasing. Facing your fear head on I think is the same thing as doing it anyway. Swallow that knot in your gut and prove to yourself you can do it. (I’ve grown to find excitement in the challenge and growth)
The point is, we’re so afraid to face our fears when it really isn’t rational. If you can learn to change the perspective on fear, (unless it really is deadly. in that case, proceed with caution) you can grow in so many ways.