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3 Simple Ways To Overcome Fears

fears
Fears originate from childhood’s emotional wounds that never healed and that surface whenever stimulated. The emotional energy in our home as kids drives our personal emotions, actions and reactions as we grow up. We learn the emotional way of behaving like our parents, even if they tell us to act differently, we learn by example. The emotional energy of our parents will make us see the world as they see it and there is nothing we can do about it, not as children anyway.
Pay close attention to your reactions. Don’t they remind you of your mother’s or your father’s? Exactly.

Fear is a psychological state that is distinct from any real immediate danger (like someone threatening your life) and is often linked to an event that might occur. Rarely is it related to anything taking place “right now”. Unease, worry, anger, jealousy, hate, envy, tension, anxiety, etc… are all manifestations of fear.
We tend to be so caught up apprehending the future, that we lose touch with the present. When in reality, the present is all that is ever guaranteed. We cannot deal with the future. However, if we work towards bettering our current situation, the future will be bright, because we reap what we sow. So the good seeds you sow today, the seeds of strength, positivity, hard work, integrity, will be reaped tomorrow in the form of a happy and fulfilled life. The seeds of anger, jealousy, hatred will lead to an unhappy life. If we keep worrying about the outcome of a situation without working on improving it now, the future can only be messy.
In order to avoid experiencing fears, people’s natural reaction is to create a world that does not stimulate them, which could lead to maybe, miss the opportunity we were waiting for for so long, but were scared to fail so we let it go; or which would prevent us from taking a leap of faith because we’re too afraid of the outcome.
In other words, by choosing to give in to fear, we make a conscious decision to let our lives slip away from our fingers. We choose to give up on what could be life-changing opportunities, then complain that we are not happy, but we don’t seize chances when they present themselves.

The first step towards overcoming fears is to recognize them and not be frozen by them. Instead, walk into your fears with all the courage you can amass.

Getting out of your comfort zone will result in mental barriers to disappear. Seeing that you are able to accomplish more than you thought will increase your confidence and will push you to keep trying to achieve higher goals. You will finally understand the famous phrase “you can do anything you set your mind to.” The sky really becomes the limit.
3 Ways to overcome fears, inspired by Tim Ferris’ famous book The 4-Hour Work Week:

1. Define your greatest fears  
Write the worst case scenarios that could unfold. Pen everything that comes to your mind. How would that affect your life? Would it be the end of your world if what you dreaded the most actually occurred? Rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely are these scenarios to happen. (1 being very unlikely and 10 being very likely.)
By laying your doubts and worries down on paper, you’ll be able to find solutions in case they happened.

2. Now Identify the benefits you will draw from conquering your fears
How fruitful will your action be both on personal and professional levels? Rate on a scale of 1 to 10 how will these benefits affect your life. 

3. Measure the cost of inaction
How would giving up on your project affect your life. Try to project yourself 10 years from now. How do you see yourself both personally and professionally? Will you regret not taking action? How will you feel knowing that you have allowed circumstance to impose itself upon you, knowing that you have preferred the “security” of a standard life over the thrill of pursuing your dream.

I hope by now, you have realized that inaction and allowing yourself to be paralyzed by fear is the greatest risk of all.
Sometimes, to do what we most love we must do what we most dread. As Susan Jeffers puts it, you must feel the fear… and do it anyway; Because outside of your comfort zone is where the magic happens.

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1 Comment

  1. nadia
    November 18, 2015 / 10:17 pm

    Fear is a peculiar thing and a powerful one. It can stop you from taking actions. But man! how amazing it feels when overcomes and when you realise you stepped forward and made magic happened !
    Fear is nothing more than a state of mind.
    From my part, I made a decision to put myself in situations that drive me far from the usual. That’s how I build my experience, that’s how I enjoy life 🙂

    Love your article! Keep it up :*