Overcome Your Fear

Fear is an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger and is usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight. It can be real or imagined.

Fear is certainly not always a bad thing. When it serves as a warning signal for impending danger or a life-threatening situation it is necessary and life preserving. If we didn’t feel it in certain situations we wouldn’t react appropriately and we’d put ourselves at great risk.

If a fear is imagined or irrational it can be paralyzing and hold us back from living life fully and productively. Many imagined fears such as the fear of rejection, looking foolish, or failure are the types of fears we must learn to manage and overcome. If we let them control our lives we would never venture forth and become all that we can be.

There are, of course, some fears that our having them, or not, doesn’t affect our lives. For example, if someone has a fear of public speaking yet has no need, intention or desire to speak publicly; trying to conquer the fear is of no consequence. There is really no motivation to work on conquering it. If, on the other hand, the fear of public speaking will hold them back in their career, or getting ahead in any way, then it’s time to work on it.

How do you conquer fear?

Acknowledge the fear. Whether it’s imagined or real, the first step in overcoming fear is to admit that it exists. We all have fears, it’s human nature. Denying or ignoring them doesn’t make them go away.

Analyze it. Where does it come from? Is it real or imagined? Can it be put in a different context? For instance if you think it through to it’s logical conclusion what’s the worst that can happen to you? Once you’ve determined what that might be, ask yourself if you can deal with or overcome it. More often than not, once you go through the process of analyzing it, the fear isn’t as scary as you originally imagined.

Face it. Allow yourself to feel it, and then do it anyway. Act in spite of your fear and treat is as a challenge for personal growth and opportunity to become stronger.

Be persistent. Do the thing you fear over and over again. By doing it repeatedly it loses its power over you and you become less vulnerable to it.

Develop courage. Sometimes the answer may not be to conquer a particular fear; it may be to develop courage. If you focus too much on any one fear instead of trying to build courage, you may, in fact, intensify it. By developing courage you build self-confidence and resistance. Also, by developing courage, you build a healthy approach towards all fear.

As Mark Twain said, "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear."

Here is list of top 9 fears according to Forbes.com:

1. Fear of bugs (especially spiders), mice, snakes, bats
2. Fear of heights
3. Fear of water (drowning)
4. Fear of public transportation
5. Fear of storms
6. Fear of closed spaces
7. Fear of tunnels and bridges
8. Fear of crowds
9. Fear of public speaking

How many on this list can you count as your own? Decide which ones you may want to work on and overcome.