Face Off Against Fear

Does fear hold you back from taking day-to-day decisions?

Does fear hold you back from taking action?

Does fear impact your relationships and your experience of life?

Basically, does fear overpower and paralyse you?

A widely-used interpretation of FEAR is “False evidence appearing real”. Do you concur to some extent?

Fear is an emotion, but it is driven by the thoughts we carry in our head. And have we ever questioned those thoughts? Do we ever try to learn what it is that we fear? Or do we just surrender ourselves to that emotion and use it as an excuse for non-action?

Here are a few steps that will help you overcome your fears and get unstuck.

First, understand that the Mother of all fears is the fear of the unknown. What will happen? What will people say? And loads of ‘what-ifs’ on top of that. Basically we look for security and the ‘best possible choice’ without first having clarity of thought.

The mind is like an over-protective parent who, with the best of intentions, prevents us from stepping out of our comfort zone towards growth. And hence we feel paralysed. We don’t know how to take that progressive step. We feel stuck.

If we want to become the masters of our minds and move forward, we need to find solutions. But if we remain slaves to the mind, we allow it to give us as many fears as it can to keep us in our comfort zone and keep complaining.

But the question for those who want to progress is: how? Let’s do this.

• Let’s make the unknown known first. What is your fear? What do you fear will happen that is stopping you from taking action? List down all that you think can go wrong.
• Now imagine that your worst fear comes true.  Think about every fear that you have listed.
• What would you do if that happens? What would be your plan B? What are the options?

With this exercise, you familiarise your mind with all that you think could happen. Hence, nothing remains unknown or a surprise.

You also prepare it to respond well in any situation by making it familiar with plan B instead of reacting in panic. The mind gets prepared to act rather than fear the risk of unknown outcomes.

Most importantly, when you put your thoughts on paper, they look more doable and manageable than in the mind. That’s half the battle won. The rest is your action that makes it possible.

The key is to take one step ahead from where you are. And you are good to go!