9 Ways To Overcome Scary Fears
9 Ways To Overcome Scary Fears
Fear is a product of evolution. This is a natural reaction in our body when a potential threat is present. The feeling was developed a long time ago before the world we know today was created. By building civilization, we got rid of most of the threats we used to fear. But we replaced them with different anxiety-provoking things and situations like interviews and presentations. There are multiple side effects of the feeling of the fears. And they usually vary from person to person.
Generally, though, they include sweating, increased heart beating and high adrenaline levels running in our blood. All of the symptoms make us alert and ready to encounter potential threats. The usual phenomenon that comes after the feeling of fear is the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome. At this stage, your body prepares you to fight the threat, or run away from it. This feeling is so strong that some people cannot move from the place, because of the paralyzing effect it has on their body and mind. Okay then, if it’s so powerful, is there even a way to overcome it?
Fear can have multiple underlying reasons as to why it’s there in the first place. Depending on the causes, our bodies can respond to it differently. If you want to treat it properly, you need to find out what is the reason for its presence. Some fear might occur because of traumas and some because of specific phobias. Furthermore, some people experience it because of numerous physical symptoms like stomachache and feeling of dizziness. This can happen, especially in situations where the subject has a fear of heights. That is why it is so essential to know where the fear is coming from. If we know its source, it’ll be easier for us to overcome it in the future.
Ways To Overcome Your Scary Fears
Under some circumstances, overcoming fear might be as easy as going out of your comfort zone (simply forcing yourself), and practicing the thing you want to do and are afraid of. For instance, if you have a fear of being interviewed, you might want to practice it as often as you can. You won’t overcome it by avoiding it, that’s for sure! The more you encounter stressful and anxiety-provoking situations, the more you’ll trust yourself in your abilities to master them.
However, the problem arises when fear is rooted deep inside our unconsciousness. Traumas are much more difficult to treat than the normal anxiety that people usually encounter. Some people can be so overwhelmed by the feelings of fear they can have multiple panic attacks and be afraid to go out of the home. There are things you can always do to improve your situation and help yourself to some extent.
Those things include:
1 Practice Relaxing Activities Like Meditation Or Yoga
You can practice meditation to feel relaxed in stressful situations. This is an
incredibly helpful and powerful method that has had many positive effects on people all around the world. You can do it virtually anywhere, and it is a magnificent way of calming your mind and getting rid of worry thoughts.
2 Exercise
You have the same needs as most of the living things. There is a reason why we go out with our dogs. They need to stay healthy. The same thing goes for you. Keeping yourself mentally healthy is one of the things that are crucial for your well-being. If you don’t want to go for walks or run in the mornings, you can go to the gym or exercise at home. There are multiple ways you can do this. Possibilities are countless, pick one and stick to it. You’ll see that you approach fear a bit differently when you’re in high spirits.
3 Eat Healthy
Apart from exercising, it would be beneficial if you avoid eating junk food. As much as you need to exercise, it’s also crucial that you eat healthily. Avoid sugar and eat as much natural food as you can. Fruits and vegetables are great sources of vitamins. Add them to your diet, and you’ll notice effects after some time. You’ll feel much better!
4 Visualize
Visualizing the fearful situation might also help you with overcoming it. Try to be kind and gentle to yourself. Also, try to be realistic while visualizing the
situation. Why are you afraid of it? What is the worst-case scenario for you when encountering it? When you think about it long enough, you’ll likely realize there’s nothing to be afraid of. Try to visualize yourself overcoming it, instead of worrying about it. Think about the benefits it might get you. Visualize it the way that you are going through the situation easily and it actually feels exciting instead fearful. After some time, you’ll likely realize, there’s nothing to be afraid of.
5 Learn About The Fear
One of the best ways to overcome your fears is getting to know it. You are likely afraid of something because you don’t know it. Once you get familiar with your fears, this illusory feeling will go away. The next time, you might be a lot braver than before as you know why you feel the way you feel and that is just a feeling which can not stop you actually doing something.
6 Live In The Present
Living in the present will help you stop overthinking everything so much about your fears and phobias. When you’re neurotic, you might have a lot of thoughts in your mind. It’s simply because your brain is also a product of
survival. And thinking about things is one of its ways of coping with problems. So, a great way of overcoming your fear is to live in the present, focus on your current mood, and enjoy the healthy life you have. Fears are product of the mind and only appears when you keep thinking about it. Once you overcome them by focusing on the present moment, it will not appear even when you think about it.
Remember:
Always
say ‘yes’ to the present moment… Surrender to what is. Say ‘yes’ to
life — and see how life starts suddenly to start working for you
rather than against you.–
Eckhart Tolle
7 Consume Positive Content
Your brain is a bit like a sponge. With five senses it is always taking in all kind of information. You can fill it with various stuff. You can fill it with positive things and ideas. But you also knowingly or unknowingly fill it with negative thoughts and pessimism. Remember that your brain is always hungry for positivity and new ideas. Keep this in mind and your fears might be much less scary. Reading positive stories or a great novel will definitely help overcoming your fears. We humans learn by observation and when we learn that someone has overcome his fears by performing a particular action or following a positive guideline, we thrive to do so.
8 Expand your comfort zone
If you fear doing something and always try to be comfortable staying away from fear and never try to face the fear then you might get stuck in that comfort zone.
Face fears slowly and gradually and as you face the fear again and again you will notice that your feeling of fear will disappear. First time it will be terrifying but as you face fear again and again the intensity of fear will go down.
9 Therapy
Sometimes, those simple ways to overcome fear are not enough. Sometimes you might need professional help to cope with the situation. Going to see a
psychotherapist might be a great idea. They might help you with identifying the issues and provide you with essential guidance.
Therapists, apart from recommending you the right medicines, can also
show you techniques to manage the extreme fear and anxiety attacks.
One of the techniques that is often used in therapy is exposing the patient gradually to the object of fear. Starting very small and then building courage
with every step. For instance, a person that’s afraid of spiders might first talk about them, then look at them in the pictures, imagining them, and so on. This technique is commonly known as systematic desensitization. We encourage you to visit a professional if you’re experiencing overwhelming feelings of anxiety and fear.
Conclusion
Summing up, simple things might help you with overcoming fear. One of them is simply going out of your comfort zone and forcing yourself to do things you don’t want to do. Maybe you can expose yourself gradually to the object of fear. Or maybe you can practice it more and try new things? Staying healthy, exercising, and meditating are good ways of coping with this feeling. If nothing helps, you can always seek professional help. At the end of the day, you have nothing to lose, and a good psychotherapist might help you get rid of your phobias and anxieties.
Originally published at https://www.brainmemind.com/
