How To Overcome Your Fear and Anxiety.  

 Introduction.

In this article, I would like to share some thoughts on how to overcome your fear and anxiety. These are emotions that can make us feel lonely, insecure and helpless. Moreover, the article includes a discussion of what fear is, how it manifests in your thoughts and body, and how to overcome or cope with feelings of anxiety and fear. Further, this article is a continuation of a series of articles on the various emotional states moving from shame to enlightenment. So, if you want to find out about the different states of emotion, read more here.

In the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, before he made them into new crew members Captain Davey Jones asked his prisoners:

“Do you fear death?”

Subsequently, those that did fear death, he swallowed up into his slavish, ghostly crew. However, those who did not he put to the sword swiftly and mercilessly.

So you see Davey Jones knew he could only keep his rule through instilling fear in his underlings. This was especially effective, because he damned them to sail the seven seas for eternity.

If you look around the world, how much misery, poverty and desperation, do people who want you to fear them cause because they want to control you?

Some say that fear is a great motivator.

In this article, I will share some thoughts about fear, both from a psychological and spiritual perspective. The article discusses why you sometimes feel fear or anxiety, how to deal with fear and fearful thoughts.

Fear can impose itself on all kinds of areas in your life. Some fears are rational fears, other may be irrational. For example, you may suffer from fears ranging from fear of public speaking to fear of heights, to fear of other people’s feet, or even your own feet. Healthy fear is part of the human condition and is there to warn you to exercise caution or react when danger presents itself. When you allow your fears to become dysfunctional, or start to interfere with your quality of life, they are called phobias. So, whatever the cause; fear holds you back. As a result, when it gets out of control, it might be wise to seek the help of health professionals. They will be able to help you cope with anxiety and restore the ability to function, one step at a time, as you learn how to overcome your fear.

Please bear in mind that the points raised in this article are for edutainment purposes only. So, do not take anything in this article as medical or professional advice. Moreover, the points raised and discussions thereof are a reflection of the thoughts and experiences of the Author. If you would like to, please feel free to have a look into the Author’s published works here

What is the True Meaning of Fear and Anxiety?

 Your fear is an ancient natural response, caused by a real or perceived threat. Fear originates in the limbic part of the brain and is an automatic response. Long ago, when you were roaming around in prehistoric times; you needed an instant response to danger, without having to take the time to evaluate the situation.

The threat would stimulate the part of your brain called the amygdala and you would immediately react by fleeing, fighting or freezing on the spot. Which of these reactions you experienced, would be instinctual and not necessarily thought through and consciously decided. The emotional portion of your brain reacts must faster than the reasoning, logical part, up to five times faster according to research. This is why your fear response is one of the most powerful responses. Your emotional brain considers it to be vital to your survival. 

This is how your ancestors either survived, or became lunch.

In our modern world the threats that you face are more discreet. They last longer than when a predator chased you in ancient times. Unfortunately, you have the same primitive escape mechanism in your brain. Nowadays you have to learn to cope with everyday symptoms of anxiety and negative thoughts, these will constitute the majority of the dangerous situations you will face. These coping mechanisms can range from relaxation techniques, to cognitive behavioural therapy, to hypnosis or psychotherapy.

It is important to understand that everyone experiences symptoms of fear and axiety problems, but these should not be ever-present and dibiltating to your enjoyment and fulfilment in life.

Here are some acronyms of fear for you to consider:

With a negative bias you can sum fear up as:

• FEAR – Fusion with your thoughts, Evaluation of experience, Avoidance of your experience, Reason-giving for your behavior
• FEAR – False Evidence Appearing Real
• FEAR – Forget Everything And Run

With a positive bias you can think of fear like this:

• FEAR – Forgetting Everything is All Right
• FEAR – Face Everything And Rise

Which acronyms do you resonate with, the positive or negative bias? This can give an indication of where your thoughts patterns are at the moment.

What is the Difference Between a Fear and a Phobia?

What is Fear?

Healthy fear is the natural reaction to a threat. Your emotional brain kicks into survival mode, your initial reaction depends on how you programmed your beliefs into your subconscious mind. So, your reaction is instinctive, until you have put enough distance between yourself and the threat to assess your position, from a point of safety. As soon as the threat subsides, or you remove yourself from it, you record it, think it through, evaluate it, store it in memory and you move on. Healthy fear teaches you to temper your actions and reactions with caution. In terms of your primitive survival instincts safe is better than sorry. 

What is a Phobia?

Phobias are the type of fear where your anxiety levels are out of proportion to the threat you are facing. Phobias can cause you to feel intense fear symptoms, even when there is no threat immediately present. Your phobia is an extreme aversion, which causes your brain to cycle up into the frequency range of high beta brainwaves which makes you panicky and can lead to a full-blown panic attack. When you ruminate over past experiences, you can cause an irrational thought process and initiate phobias. If you have a phobia of snakes, the sight of a picture of snakes can trigger anxious feelings and cause you to start sweating, shaking or even go into panic mode. Your reaction is completely out of proportion with the true situation that a picture of a snake cannot harm you. Your emotional brain and your imagination are behaving in ways that are not helpful or constructive.

Helping People With phobias.

Helping people with phobias normally starts with relaxation techniques, (typically where the outbreath is longer than the inbreath), to cycle down the brain to a normal state. You initially employ distraction techniques as a coping mechanism, while desensitizing takes place. You apply these techniques over time, in small steps, until you can remain physically calm and get your thought patterns and imagination under control. It is possible that the beliefs you hold in the subconscious mind have embedded so deeply that you cannot overcome the phobia completely. You just reduce it to the level that you can cope with it and live a normal life. Otherwise, you may be able to reduce the phobia to such an extent that it disappears completely.

What Does Fear Do to Your Body? Learn More About Your Fear.

 When you experience fear, your system releases cortisol and adrenalin and all of your biological functions not required for the fight, flight or freeze response suppress. The physiological functions that suppress include your digestive, reproductive and casual, or reasoning thought processes. Adrenalin floods your system and blood pumps from your quickening heart rate to the muscles you need to use to neutralize your threat. Your breathing quickens and your instincts go onto high alert. 

Human evolution evolved this state for short bursts of fear reaction which facilitate quick escape and survival. However, in our modern world the situations that induce fear and distress in your life are more longer lasting and permanent.

The result of our modern lifestyle and the consequent demands that it places on all of us, is that you end up in a state of low-level fight flight or freeze for a high proportion of the time. This leads to your body not functioning as it should and can debilitate you. Some systems function too intensely, and others suppress themselves most of the time. This is what leads to heart disease, high blood pressure and contributes to a lot of substance abuse and poorly managed coping systems. With this type of setback affects you, you can often feel tired and worn out.

Getting Professional Help With How to Overcome Your Fear.

If you are constantly in an anxious or fearful state, don’t ignore this, sometimes you can’t overcome feelings of fear on your own. Don’t allow fear and anxiety to become a problem that erodes your self-confidence. Sit quietly with a friend, or family member that you trust, and discuss your fears. Just be aware that sometimes you need to sit quietly and put your thoughts and emotions into perspective. If you are still unsure, then contact your healthcare professional instead of letting your fears trigger a stress response, that may lead to other health issues.  

Why do You feel anxiety and fear?

A certain amount of fear is healthy. Your healthy fear tempers your actions with caution, this tells you to assess the situation before you act. Fear may tell you that the previous time you were in a similar situation it didn’t turn out well and you may want to choose differently this time.

Fear and Ego.

On a spiritual level, fear is the opposite of love. When you experience the shadow side of any emotion and overcome it, you will have a greater understanding and wisdom about its opposite. In this way you are able to overcome your ego and become your greater, or higher self.

It is only when your ego convinces you that you are your body and your small self that fear can defeat you. Your ego convinces you to cling onto your fear because in this state you believe that your fear will keep you alive.

When your dysfunctional behavior and belief traps you, there is always a payoff keeping you stuck in repetitive behavior. It may be the familiar feeling of a comfort zone. You may believe that your situation means that you don’t have to take responsibility. Whatever it is that you think your fear gives you, it is an illusion that you can only resolve by returning to love.

When your fear escalates, it can turn into a phobia, an irrational fear that takes over your behavior and controls your thinking. There are many unpleasant experiences that people allow to grow into irrational fears. Their thinking, their wonderful imagination, gets out of control. When you suffer from a phobia, you are aware of the irrational nature of your response, but it has become so deeply ingrained in your system that you might need help to change your response to a more normal level of intensity.

Fear and Courage.

Your greater self is alive to experience and grow. It experiences by observing and feeling emotion to give context to experience. The same experience recurring does not have to illicit the same emotion. If you can observe similar experience an allow different emotion to flavor your experience, this is how you gain courage and wisdom.

Remember courage is not the absence of fear, you characterise courage when you experience fear but move forward in spite of your fear. Your healthy fear guides your actions and your greater self, your loving self comes to the fore.

How to Face Your Fear and How to Overcome Your Fear and Anxiety?

Your anticipation of how things are going to play out is generally worse than the event itself.

If you can observe your fear and ask what it is trying to tell you, you can adjust your actions to better navigate your experience. You may even decide that particular experience is not for you and move on.

Remember your fear response is a fight, flight or freeze response. When you are in control of your thoughts and emotions you can move in an orderly way, not in panic. Your intuition will tell you how best to react, if you will listen to it. You can’t hear your intuition if you are in panic mode.

How Breathing Helps With Your Fear.

Breathing is a good way to get your brain to cycle down from a state of fear. When you experience fear, your brain cycles up to the high beta range. When the brain vibrates in the high beta frequency range, panic attacks can start.

A simple breathing exercise can get your brain to cycle down to a more relaxed state. This breathing exercise is very simple and involves breathing in for a count of four, holding for a count of four and breathing out for a count of six. When your out breath is longer than your in breath, this helps your brain to cycle down and calm you. Blowing into a paper bag, contrary to popular advice is not helpful and may increase the cycle of anxiety.

Now it may be, that before you do this exercise you may have to remove yourself from your fearful situation. If someone is chasing you with a knife, it might not be sensible to sit down in the lotus position and do your breathing exercises, before you have reached a place of safety.

What Changes When You Conquer Your Fear?

Conquering thoughts and emotions is the key to becoming your greater self. As you mull over your problems in life, your brain takes on the responsibility to solve your troubles. Sometimes your brain is able to solve the problem and come up with solutions. When it can’t find a solution, it goes into an endless loop of creating scenarios that run on and on.

That is when you need to turn to your greater self and realize that everything is as it should be. The universe does its thing regardless of how we humans feel about it.  After all, the universe has been in existence for around fourteen billion years. If you live a life of four score and twenty years, that life is pretty insignificant compared to the age of the universe and all that it has done to evolve.

This perspective can get you to allow yourself to let go of your thoughts and emotions. As a result, you can become present so you can’t be ruled by your past or think with apprehension about the future.

Become your greater self and allow yourself to gain the wisdom of experience. Observe your life without keeping hold of your thoughts and emotions and suppressing them to inevitably cause you suffering.

Relaxation and a mindfulness practice can be helpful in getting you to overcome your fear and anxiety.

What Other Have Said About How to Overcome Your Fear, Some Quotes.

Here are some quotes about fear. When you read them, please just pause and feel what gift they are offering you to keep you safe: 

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt.

“I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up, this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.” – Rosa Parks.

“Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” – Helen Keller.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” – Plato.

“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” – Henry Ford.

“Do what you fear, and fear disappears.” – David Joseph Schwartz.

“Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live.” – Dorothy Thompson.

“Fear is excitement without breath.” – Robert Heller.

“Grief has limits, whereas apprehension has none. For we grieve only for what we know has happened, but we fear all that possibly may happen.” – Pliny the Elder.

“Fear is static that prevents me from hearing myself.” – Samuel Butler.

“Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we learned here.” – Marianne Williamson.

“Courage is a peculiar kind of fear.” – Charles Kennedy.

“To fight fear, act. To increase fear – wait, put off postpone.” – David Joseph Schwartz.

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” – Marcus Aurelius.

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” – Mark Twain.

 Frequently Asked Questions About How to Overcome Your Fear.

Here is a selection of FAQ’s about anxiety and fear. When you are afraid of something, sometimes knowing that you are not alone can help you overcome anxiety problems, or fear symptoms. Have a look at these typical questions, they might make you feel more confident to take the first step to overcoming your emotional response to fear, when life isn’t happening right.

Q: What is the difference between fear and anxiety?

 A: Fear and anxiety are related emotions, but they have distinct characteristics. Fear is a natural response to a specific and immediate threat. Anxiety is a more generalized feeling of unease, or worry, about future uncertainties. Fear typically doesn’t last long, triggered by a perceived threat, while anxiety can be a prolonged state of distress, without a clear threat.

Q: How can I overcome fear and anxiety?

A: To overcome fear and anxiety, it’s essential to face your fear, not avoid it. Gradual exposure to the fear-inducing situation or object, along with relaxation techniques and mindfulness practices, can help you overcome your fear and anxiety. Seek help from a healthcare professional, or you may consider cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), to learn effective coping strategies.

Q: What are the types of fear that people commonly experience?

A: People can experience various types of fear, such as fear of the unknown, fear of public speaking, fear of heights, fear of spiders (arachnophobia), and fear of flying (aerophobia). Each type of fear may manifest with different symptoms and intensities.

Q: How does fear hold you back from living a fulfilling life?

A: Fear can hold you back by limiting your ability to function in certain situations. It can prevent you from trying new things or taking risks, and hinder your self-confidence. Fear may also cause avoidance of certain activities or places, preventing you from fully experiencing life.

Q: What are the symptoms of fear and anxiety?

A: Symptoms of fear and anxiety can include: a rapid heart rate, shortness of breath, sweating, trembling, feeling on edge, restlessness, difficulty concentrating, and excessive worry. These symptoms can vary in intensity depending on the person and the situation.

Q: How can I cope with anxiety and fear on a daily basis?

A: Coping with everyday anxiety and fear involves practicing relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing and mindfulness, to help you feel more physically calm and emotionally grounded. Breaking tasks into small steps, can also make them more manageable. Seeking support from friends, family, or a healthcare professional can be beneficial.

Q: Can fear become a problem or lead to anxiety disorders?

A: Fear can become a problem when it evolves into an anxiety disorder. If fear starts to interfere with your daily life and causes significant distress, it may indicate an anxiety disorder. Conditions such as phobias, panic disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are examples of anxiety problems stemming from fear.

Q: What is the role of relaxation techniques in overcoming fear and anxiety?

A: Relaxation techniques play a crucial role in overcoming fear and anxiety, by helping you stay physically calm and reducing the stress response. Techniques like deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and meditation can help you feel more confident in dealing with fearful situations.

Q: How can cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) help with overcoming fear and anxiety?

A: CBT is one of the most powerful tools in helping you cope with anxiety and fear. It focuses on identifying and challenging negative thoughts and beliefs related to fear, gradually exposing you to fear-inducing situations, and teaching effective coping strategies. This therapy can help you feel more in control and build self-confidence.

Q: Is it possible to overcome a severe phobia without professional help?

A: Overcoming a severe phobia without professional help can be challenging, especially if the fear holds you back significantly. While some individuals manage mild fears on their own using self-help techniques, if you seek guidance from health professionals or psychotherapy it may help.

Q: How can I deal with fear of public speaking, which is one of the most common fears?

A: To deal with the fear of public speaking, start by taking small steps to overcome it. Practice speaking in front of a mirror or a supportive friend or family member. Gradually increase the audience size and seek constructive feedback to build self-confidence. Consider public speaking courses or join supportive groups to improve your skills.

Q: Why is facing fear considered an essential step to overcoming it?

A: Facing fear is essential because it allows you to learn more about your fear and understand that the perceived threat may not be as dangerous as your mind imagines. By confronting fear, you can challenge fearful thoughts and reduce the intensity of anxiety and fear responses.

Q: How can mindfulness help me cope with anxiety and fear?

A: Mindfulness involves being fully present and aware of the current moment without judgment. Practicing mindfulness can help you manage anxious feelings by grounding you in the present and preventing your mind from fixating on negative thoughts about the past or worries about the future.

Q: What can I do to make fear go away when I feel anxious?

A: When you feel anxious, try to close your eyes and imagine yourself successfully handling the situation that triggers your fear. Combine this visualization with relaxation techniques like deep breathing to help ease the anxiety.

Remember that overcoming fear and anxiety is a process that takes time and effort. Be patient with yourself, and consider seeking professional help if your fears are significantly impacting your life and well-being.

Last Words on How to Overcome Your Fear.

As you learn to overcome your unhealthy fear and accept your healthy fear, you will start to gain mastery over your thoughts and emotions. This mastery will still your mind and give you a different perspective, the perspective of your greater self. These are important steps for you to learn how to overcome your fear.

You may find that, in this process, you move from fear to anger. You may direct your anger at those who put you in a state of fear, or at yourself for allowing situations and people to take your power away. Please be gentle with yourself and realize that, without struggle, there is no growth in the human spirit. These situations offer you the opportunity to learn and grow. It helps to understand that sometimes life just isn’t fair and there are no guarantees.

Once you leave your fear and anger behind you move into courage, acceptance and love. This allows you to live your life as an example to others. Don’t tell others what to do, show them. Once they follow you example they can pay it forward too and before you know it, you have changed the world.

A Simple Exercise on How to Conquer your Fear.

Imagine that you are walking down a forest path, you come across a clearing. In the clearing is a cage with a very sad lion sitting inside. Someone has locked the cage with a large padlock and chain, so you are quite safe. You go a little closer to the cage and when you look into the lion’s eyes, you recognize something. Something about the lion reminds you of yourself, perhaps as you were many years ago. In fact, so long ago that you had forgotten that part of yourself. The lion looks sad but pleased to see you, as if he remembers an old friend.

The lion represents the part of you that you are keeping imprisoned by your fears. You have the key to release your lion, you keep it in your heart. But you have forgotten about it. Suddenly you remember the key and where it is. You take the key in your hand, its shape is quite odd. When you look at the key, it seems to be in the shape of the word “courage.” What will you do? Will you release the lion and let him go, or will you leave him in the cage of fear and go back to your current life?

The choice is yours – How will you choose?

Note: This imaginary journey is part of a process I have used with great success in my hypnosis practice, to help my clients move from fear to courage.

Moving Forward.

I hope the shared thoughts in this article give you hope and a way to start to overcome your fears, whatever they may be. This is my gift to you, to let you know that you can overcome your fear and anxiety. I wish you well on your journey of learning how to overcome your fear. You’ve got this, just release your courage and shine.

Please share your successes in the comments, I would love to hear your stories about you own journey. If you would like to contact me directly you can contact me through the contact form on the website.

With love as always

Richard H Morris.

Other Recommended Resources:

Hit Refresh Now:

How To Deal With Grief.

Hit Refresh Now: 7 Easy Steps to Overcoming Your Limiting Beliefs.

Other: