Have you ever felt overwhelmed by fear -
so much so that it prevented you from
doing something you wanted to do?
Believe it or not, this is a common
problem faced by many people daily.
Fear has the power to hold you back from
taking risks, following your dreams, or
becoming successful at anything you
attempt to do. If you allow it to
control you for long enough, it can
eventually erode your quality of life
and keep you locked in a prison of
inactivity.
What many people fail to realize is that
fear is nothing more than a conditioned
response. It's a natural reaction to a
frightening or unfamiliar situation.
While it is usually automatic, there are
things you can do to overcome it.
1) Check your expectations.
One major contributor of fear is the
prevalence of negative expectations. Do
you usually find yourself expecting the
worst in every situation? Do you worry
obsessively about what could go wrong,
rather than focusing on your strengths
and capabilities?
If you make a conscious effort to expect
the best, see the positive side of each
situation and keep reminding yourself
that you can handle more than you often
think, you'll find yourself with much
less fear to deal with. Even if feelings
of fear do manage to creep into your
consciousness, you'll still be able to
keep them in perspective and balance
them against an underlying sense of
confidence.
2) Discredit your fears.
Experts will tell you that the majority
of things you fear will never come to
pass anyway. While this may be true, it
sure doesn't feel that way when fear has
a choke hold on you! However, if you
look a little more closely at your fears
when they arise, you may be able to
dismiss at least a few.
For example, if you have a fear of
public speaking and your boss wants you
to give a presentation at work, you
might feel like your life (and perhaps
your livelihood) is on the line. You may
fear getting fired, or worry that your
colleagues will lose respect for you if
you don't do a good job.
But is any
of this likely to happen? In most cases,
no. Rather than worrying about what
"might" happen if you don't give a solid
presentation, you might brainstorm ways
to help improve your performance, such
as being well prepared, practicing your
delivery on friends and family members,
writing notes to yourself and so on.
3) Do the very thing you fear.
When you remember that fear is simply a
feeling, it loses much of its power. It
can't harm you and except in truly
threatening situations you can choose to
ignore it and move forward anyway.
If you weigh the pros and cons in any
situation, you may decide that the
possibility of negative consequences is
minimal so there's nothing to stop you
from ignoring your fear and going for
it!
This will be determined by you on a case
by case basis, of course. The point
isn't to become reckless with your
decision-making but rather to empower
yourself to know when a fear is
groundless and easily overcome.
Affirmations for Conquering Your
Fears
I am now choosing to take control of my
fears and never again allowing them to
control me
I am releasing my need to control my
life out of fear
I am now choosing to free myself from
all destructive fears and doubts
I have the ability to be able to do
anything I set my mind to do
I am learning to trust the process of
life
I am free to be me...and so I shall be!
