Overcome your fears in 8 steps

We propose a guide to face fear and remove it from your life. Remember that we have all been through this situation more than once and that when we manage to see things from a certain distance, we can begin to overcome it.

How to overcome your deepest fears?

In today’s article we are going to review some psychological strategies that can help you face your fears.

1. Assume that fear is there

Acknowledge that you are feeling it and that it can have its function. Feeling fear is something natural and, if that emotion has arisen in you, surely there must be a reason for it to have occurred.

Could you know what it is serving you for? How is fear helping you? What function is it fulfilling within your system? Looking for information about the positive function of fear will help you.

2. Focus on the worst fantasy

For the fearful, Seneca proposed the technique of “the premeditation of all evils”. You can do it more systematically by writing for half an hour every day all the catastrophic thoughts about the bad things that can happen to you. Once you accept all your ills, fear disappears.

3. Admit that you are not in control.

We all have to assume that Life has a certain degree of uncertainty. It is important that you realize that inside you there are mechanisms that are activated unconsciously and that you do not control them. If you have panic attacks, they appear without you deciding.

There is something bigger than you and many of the things happen without the person or humanity having any control over it.

4. Try not to depend on your environment

Every time someone helps you do something because you are afraid, your ability to deal with those situations on your own diminishes.

5. Avoid avoiding and confront your fears

Imagination is worse than reality so try to relativize your fears. “I carry the wounds of all the battles in which I have not participated,” wrote Fernando Pessoa. “Avoided situation, increased fear”, keep this in mind.

6. Expand your perception

Fear reduces your vision of reality. Try to expand it by looking at how the people around you act and live. Are they afraid? Do they have problems? What do they do in difficult and adverse situations? How do they solve them? Have a curious attitude towards others and be interested in how they are and how they react.

7. Distinguish fear from anxiety

​Sometimes we can confuse fear with anxiety and not all anxiety is fear. Anxiety can be the expression of other silenced emotions. In addition, it usually occurs in the body in a more generalized way.

8. Remember: fear is just fear

It’s not a death threat, far from it. With the passage of time you will realize that nothing happens and that one does not die of a panic attack. You will also notice that while you are having a panic attack, nothing is happening outside.

When you can accept this reality, you will have overcome fear. and you will be able to put him by your side, differentiating yourself from him, you will be able to be with him, see how he is… and not stop doing anything for his cause.