If you’re not afraid, you’re not human. Everyone is afraid of something. Fears tend to evolve and change over time. A young child might be afraid of the dark. A middle-aged man is afraid of embarrassing himself during a speech. A newborn is afraid of loud noises. All other fears are learned. What have you learned to be afraid of? As I reminded of famous insight that “The Fears We Don’t Face Become Our Limits.” Do you want to take advantage of them or surrender to them?
Turn the tables and use fear to your benefit by practicing below to overcome your self-created limitations.
1. Figure-out why you’re afraid: If you’re afraid of falling off a cliff and dying, your fear might be defensible, and further evaluation is required. If it’s just your ego talking and self-creation, then you know that the fear isn’t in your best interest. That’s the fear that keeps you in your current situation. The best thing you can do is face that fear if you can practically to be fearless and get rid of it. Like taking a walk in the dark-moon night.
Related: Break free 9 tips to overcome fear
2. Re-frame the situation: The fact that you’re physically uncomfortable doesn’t have to control your thoughts or actions. When you’re feeling anxious, take that as a sign that something great might be getting ready to happen. Step outside your comfort zone and take advantage of the opportunity. Use your fear to your advantage and embrace it. It’s a good thing, not something to be avoided.
3. List all your fears: You’ll notice a pattern. It might be a fear of embarrassment, success, failure, objection or becoming isolated. By understanding the core of your fears, you can better deal with them. As Robin Sharma rightly remarked that “We grow fearless by walking into our fears.” By addressing the core issue, you may be able to eliminate many of your fears at the source.
4. Use fear to push you forward: The most successful people have been those that faced fear successfully. Conquering one fear makes you more capable. The next fear will be even easier. Defeating a small fear makes the more significant fears more manageable. The confidence you gain can be applied to all areas of your life. As the saying goes “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
5. Use fear as an opportunity to relax: You might be wondering, how can fear help you to relax! Often, we don’t see an opportunity in adversity. For instance, you might hate dinner parties, but you know what they’re a great chance to work on your conversational skills. When you’re feeling fear, you have the chance to practice relaxing. Focusing on breathing slowly and think positive thoughts. This will help you to understand a great insight about fear is that “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is to be understood”. So, get something out of your suffering!
6. Know that fear is self-induced: It’s only your perception of the event that creates your fear. And fear is just a feeling. It may include physical symptoms, but it’s a feeling nevertheless. Knowing that fact consider FEAR as “False Evidence Appearing Real.” The early you know this fact the better you would take advantage of it. For instance, if your life isn’t in danger, your fear is just a guess. When you can realize this fact, you’ll also realize that all your other feelings follow the same rules. If you can make yourself feel bad, you can make yourself feel good, too.
7. Use fear to enhance your discipline: Fear occurs when your brain tries to stop you from doing something. It makes you uncomfortable until you run away from the source of your fear. Use the opportunity to exercise your ability to push through the anxiety.
Discipline is the ability to do things you don’t feel like doing. You don’t need discipline to do the things you enjoy. Does it take discipline to eat your favorite recipe? No. It takes discipline to stop. You need discipline to face your fears. Begin cultivating it and proclaim that “I am stronger than fear.” Face your fears with absolute confidence as to keep your motivation limitless.
Related: Confidence is the key to limitless motivation
8. Get the help you need: Perhaps you may need help getting over deep-seated fears. There’s probably a good reason why they’re deep-seated. Use your fear as motivation to get help. You can find a mentor or a coach to share your fears with as to find right solutions. Getting help for your fear could help you move forward with innumerable of new benefits.
So, strongly believe that fear isn’t something to be avoided. Use it for your advantage. Fear is a wonderful opportunity to learn about yourself. Fear can also be used as chance to grow on a personal level. On final note, “If you’re not afraid – you’re not living.”
Therefore, make a right choice today to choose “Face Everything And Rise” over “Forget Everything And Run” to lead a legendary life.
