Overcoming fear is an art. Fear may just be a four letter word but have you heard this famous quotation ’Sticks and stones may break my bones but words would never hurt me!’ We know all too well, how true this quote is. Actually it’s not. The impact that this word can have is enormous. It has an ability to stop one person to take an action or to think rationally. If this expression has such drastic effects on a random person, what can be done to fight it? Below are some of the tips that will help you in overcoming your fear

1. Get to know your fear:

Half of your fear will eventually diminish if you ask yourself that what exactly are you scared of? By doing this practice, you will have at least a vague idea about your fear and in that way you will be able to form the strategies that what can you do to conquer it. If you keep ignoring it by thinking that nothing scares you, this will be disadvantageous for you because it will keep growing stronger than ever before.

2. Confront your fears by doing those things that are the cause of it:

Now this aforementioned suggestion might raise some eyebrows, but there is a logical reason behind it, which I will explain in a following example. Suppose you have a fear of heights. Now majority will suggest that don’t take walks in high rise buildings. I would suggest taking exact opposite action; by taking walks at skyscrapers. At first it will be very difficult, nearly impossible to walk a pace. You might reach at that point, that you might want to give up, don’t; be persistent. A time will come that you will be no longer scared of heights. Why? Because you took the action and faced the reality. Your mind was just making illusions, making your imagination scarier than your reality.

3. Good fear VS Bad fear:

It’s true that fear is bad for it hinders one from achieving the greater things. However fear can be good as it fosters one progress. For instance, if you are not working towards your goal for the fear of failure, then that’s a bad fear. While on the other hand; if you working hard because you know that every minute counts, then its good fear. Because you realize the worth of the available resources and you are doing everything to make the best use of it. So make sure to convert your fears from bad to good, only then can you get close to overcoming fear.

4. Stop over thinking:

We human beings has the tendency to literally take everything seriously, even when it comes to thinking. The practice of over thinking has become so common that it is nearly impossible to find a person that is free from negative thoughts. Over thinking will not do you any good, instead it will also bring those problems that weren’t there in the first place, hence in other words adding up more to your insecurities. The best way to avoid over thinking is keep oneself busy with some work, be it an office duty or household chore. But the main point is that your mind will remain focused on doing the task, thus giving no time to have negative thoughts. As the quotation says “an empty mind is the devil’s workshop”. Overcoming fear like this can take time.

5. Read about successful people struggles:

Whenever we read about other people’s successes, we find ourselves in a state of awe and we are thinking that this person is so lucky that he/she has become something that the whole world looks up to. But do we know the other side of story? What hurdles they have to come across to reach this spot? Every famous person we know must have face doubts at some point of their life when they were working towards their goal. I would recommend reading their biographies that what were their worries and how they did overcome it? You never know, you might end up noting down some useful tips.

6. Learn from your past experience(overcoming fear):

Image Credits: QuoteAddicts

At times we become scared of doing a certain activity again because we have failed at it in the first attempt. And you will do anything to avoid doing that action because you fear that you will probably fail in second attempt as well. Instead of avoiding it, you can learn your mistakes from it like what went wrong? Wasn’t I fully prepared for it? By asking these questions, you will try to ratify your mistakes and prepare yourself accordingly to it.

7. Get out of comfort zone:

In other words; stop clinging to your fears. We tend to cling to our insecurities because they somewhat gives a person a sense of protection. This might be beneficial because you are being careful but at what cost? You will never be able to enjoy that moment just because you were reminiscing with your opinions that it’s dangerous. So go out there and do those activities that make you feel shaky, by the end of the day you will come out as better person.

8. Make a backup plan:

Be it an entrepreneur, police officer, doctor or just a random person; everyone should have back up plan if their first initiative fails. Creating contingency plans is actually useful for two reasons; first you will not be dependent on one plan, hence reducing your worries, second you will also tend be flexible, hence giving you a training to be adjustable to any problems you come across in future.

9. Associate yourself with good company:

Your friends shape your personality a lot than any other experience. If your friend is a pessimistic
and always talks about negativity, this will sooner or later, bound to affect you drastically in such a way that you will fail to see a positive side of things. In other words you will also think along the same lines of your friend. So choose your friends wisely for they can help you in solving any problems.

To learn more check out: This is How Good Friends Influence Your Future

10. Believe in yourself:

Lastly and most importantly, believe in yourself. What makes you think that you cannot be successful? The only one who can achieve anything is you and yourself. Your friends may help with words of motivation, but in the end you will have to make a move. Visualize your success and believe that it will work. Believing is the key aspect when it comes to overcoming fear.