OVERCOMING YOUR FEARS | 6 EFFECTIVE WAYS
We all want to be successful, we wanna be the best, we wanna achieve all our goals, dreams, and aspirations. We really want to gain total control of our lives, we all want so much more. But many of us are not willing to do stuff that will eventually propel us to the successful life we desire. We often refrain from taking a bold and courageous step into our destiny all because of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of failing, fear of moving away from our comfort zone, fear of what people will say and think of us, fear of rejection, and all of the other forms of fear. Anytime we decide to do something we’ve never done before, we often find ourselves overanalyzing our fears and weaknesses instead of our strengths and boldness, so we end up doing nothing.
Successful people are not people that lack fear, trust me their fear is as great as yours could ever be. Then you’ll say, “how do they manage to get to such height with so much fear in them?”. Good question. Well, successful people use their fear as a tool to move forward. They get to be afraid whenever they wanna do something new, but they do it anyway. They always do things even when afraid, that’s why they are so exceptional.
If you’re seriously waiting for your fears to go away before you act in your life, trust me you gonna be waiting all your life because it will never go away. What you actually need to do is learn and master how to always channel your fears, so that they will be constructive, rather than destructive.
Below are 6 ways to help you overcome and work with fear:
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Know That Your Fear Will Always Be a Part of You
fear is an indispensable trait of every human. It is part of the characteristics that made us who we are, what we believe in, and our values in life. So, acknowledging the simple truth that your fear will always be a part of your life, is the first step to overcoming it. No human on earth is devoid of fear, it is not possible. Better still, understanding and embracing it is crucial.
In every issue you may face, always find a way to work with your fear. Never in your life should you wait for it to go away before you eventually act. Never.
Fear will always show up anytime you decide to do something new and different. When you want to do things you haven’t done before, especially things that are inconvenient, uncomfortable, and painstaking, yet productive and of great benefits, fear will always be there to talk you out of it.
What you need to do is always welcome fear on board whenever you wanna make a change in your life. Allow it to sit with you, but don’t let it be your decision-maker. Just let it know that you accept it and that you’re willing to work with it sitting right next to you. This act can really help to reduce your level of anxiety, and you’re likely to make more rational decisions when you’re less anxious.
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Identify Your Fear
When something really scares and frightens us, we often run and hide from it. We don’t face it the way we ought to. We don’t care what really scares us, we just want to be away from it as a way of safeguarding ourselves.
In overcoming your fear, you have to always learn to identify it. And identifying your fears means you’ve to face it with boldness and audacity so that you can be more aware of its roots—where it all came from.
You have to make a deliberate effort in stating and identifying the specific thing that makes you so afraid. Ask yourself some questions like, “why does this thing scare me so much? Why can’t I face it boldly? Why do I run away from it? What can I do to address the issue?” there are many other questions you can also ask yourself. Just do this and you will see yourself becoming more aware of yourself and your fear as well.
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Get Knowledge
Many a time, we tend to be more afraid of what we don’t have a clue about, what we know doesn’t really scare us. Fear of the unknown is perhaps the major cause of fears.
If you’re so scared about something, go find out about it. Read books on it, do your personal researches, ask questions, just do anything to gain knowledge. Let’s say you’re afraid of swimming. You shiver and quiver at the sound of the gliding in water.
What you should do is read about swimming. Ask other people why they don’t get to be afraid as you’re, keep learning about it. If you’ve known so much about swimming and how it’s done, your level of fear will tend to decrease because what you know so much about cannot actually scare you.
However, it is important to note that getting the right amount of information and knowledge is crucial. If your sources of information have been distorted or falsified, your fear for it keeps multiplying. So be mindful of how you go about getting information, always make sure that it is the right source.
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Know When to Retreat From Your Fears
We’ve always been told that facing our fears builds courage and audacity in us. They say that it makes us look defying and daring. But the antithesis is also true, withdrawing from certain fears builds a sense of rationality in us.
Truth be told, facing all your fears heartily is not always worthwhile. You need to back out from some of those fears. You can’t just go jumping off from a cliff or a mountaintop, or you decide to go wrestle with a leopard because you’re so afraid of it, and you think doing such things is a way of overcoming the fears.
At the end of it all, it isn’t your fear you would be facing, but your doom. It is not all your fears that you get to confront. Some are there permanently to keep you safe, so you wouldn’t go ahead doing foolish and ridiculous things.
So, always know the fear to confront and the ones to retreat from. Retreating from certain fears doesn’t mean you’re weak but, it simply means you value your life more than anything else so, you’re willing to do anything to protect it.
Both confrontation and retreat of fears are effective means of overcoming fears, you just need to know which one goes in and which one stays back in every situation you face.
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Talk to Someone About Your Fears
It is often said, “A problem shared, is a problem half-solved”. The same applies to fear. Talking about your fears with close friends or relations is one way that can alleviate the fears in you. It can really be a great help to you. Some of them might even experience the same as you, so they can share insights on how you can overcome yours partially, if not completely.
When you see that someone has gone through similar terror as you, you tend to be less frightened because you now feel that you’re not alone in this, so in turn, a bit of courage comes up in you.
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Work On Your Strengths, Rather Than Your Weaknesses
Instead of deliberating on your weakness, identify those areas in your life that strengthen you and focus on them. Your fears are part of your weaknesses, feeding them with thoughts upon thoughts will make them grow wild. Instead of thinking of how scared and frightened you’re, rather focus on ways you can apply in overcoming it.
Learning how to utilize your strengths to their full potentials is crucial. This will help you gain more confidence in yourself and in turn reduces your level of weaknesses with fear including.
Boldness and courage are part of your strengths that can be used to overcome fear. Displaying an act of boldness cast a shadow on your fears and so it becomes powerless over time.
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