Whether you’ve been dealing with wild, possessive fear for a long time or are encountering it for the first time, let’s take a deeper look at what fear is, what it’s useful for, and, in the following step, what methods you use when fear takes over.
Shift Your Focus from Within to Outside
When we are terrified, we frequently focus all of our attention inward, on our thoughts, the horrific scenarios that our minds are thinking up, and our bodily panic reactions such as palpitations, sweating, tremors, and so on. When you focus on your fear in this way, you get caught in a whirlpool that takes you away from what is actually happening right now. It is then critical that you concentrate on seeing the world around you in order to “make real” something other than your own anxiety.
Change Your Perception of the Situation
Remember that it is never the situation, but the interpretation, that causes you to feel scared. The good news is that you may completely shift your understanding of a circumstance by allowing your subconscious to choose between different meanings.
Speak Nice to Yourself
If you find yourself in a scenario that normally makes you fearful, locate a loving (imaginary) companion. Assign your buddy the responsibility of supporting and coaxing you well. You can also accomplish this by speaking kindly to yourself and urging yourself to engage in a specific activity. “I can do it”, “You have mastered more difficult situations”, “You have nothing to lose” – and the dread goes away without you needing to rely on others.
Loosen Up With Breathing Exercises And Progressive Muscle Elaxation
When we are afraid, we tend to stiffen up and adopt a tight, cramped posture. This is an interaction, in the sense that this alertness informs your system that you are on alert and that danger is imminent.
Experience Calmness through Meditation
Meditation moves in a similar direction. Meditation, on the other hand, involves your ideas and trains you to simply let them to be. Meditation can educate you that you don’t always have to react to a thought, or your interpretation of a circumstance (for example, with terror or flight). The notion does not elicit a response; instead, it fades away and is replaced by another thought.
Practice Acceptance
Acceptance, as noted several times in this essay, is a very effective technique of dealing with tough emotions such as fear. Sounds unusual at first, but envision it as a ball floating on water. If you wish to keep it below the water’s surface (i.e. suppress it), it’s exhausting and won’t work long term. When you let go of him, he gains a lot of energy and jumps with enormous force.
Face Your Fear In Small Steps
Finally, and with a little sarcasm, confronting your concerns repeatedly is extremely beneficial. Do it like in a computer game. Do not start with the final boss. It’s best to write down a fear hierarchy. What is the situation that worries me the most? Which situation makes me feel less scared? What kind of situation would fall roughly in the middle? And what am I only a little afraid of, yet enough to swallow a little?