Is there an easy way to help in overcoming your fears? What is fear, anyway?
Our brains are hardwired for fear as it helps us identify threats to our safety, and then avoid them. Fear would have been essential in caveman/woman times – after all, we needed to know if a roaming lion was fancying us as an afternoon snack! However, despite modern risks being very different to those of our ancestors, our brains still process fear in the same way.
Nerd Time About Fears
By the way, if you’re a bit of a nerd like me and want to go down a rabbit hole of ‘useful but useless’ information, check out the website BrainFacts! Be warned though, once you start reading … let’s just say I take zero responsibility for any hours you may spend on this site! 😉😆
For a full article all about the brain and fear, check out this post on BrainFacts.org, The Root of Fear & Anxiety It’s more of a technical piece about how different parts of the brain work. Fascinating, even if it’s not a particularly easy read.
Tony Robbins on Handling our Fears
Tony Robbins says, “Fear is physical. If you can change your state of mind, then the fear will disappear. You need to change from a state of fear or uncertainty to a state of certainty, determination, or aggressiveness.” Tony says the fastest way to do this is to make a radical change in your body. There is a wonderful article on his website, which you can visit here: How to overcome fear.
Exposure to Fear
According to neuroscientist Philippe Goldin, “Exposure is hands down the most successful way to deal with phobias, anxiety disorders, and everyday fears of any sort.” While he probably doesn’t advocate going head-to-head with a venomous adder*, facing up to our fears often isn’t as scary as it appears.
Many years ago I read the book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers (shown below). While I can’t say I’ve never been fearful since reading it, I can say it helped me enormously at the time. It’s full of insights and useful tools to help you put things into perspective. I would definitely recommend it.
There are so many self-help books out there, it can be difficult to know which ones to choose. We would recommend you speak to friends and family, ask them what has helped them overcome their own fears. Alternatively, look for self-help groups on places like Facebook – just be careful about divulging personal information and do your due diligence, as always.
We’d love to discuss what you consider your main fears and whether you face up to them or not? And also any that you’ve overcome, and what you did to move past them. Please let us know in the comments or over on social media. We love to hear from you.
Completely Unrelated Nerdy Fact Time!
*Did you know there are only three species of snake found in the wild in the UK, of which only one, the adder, is venomous? However, on mainland Europe there are over eighty species.😱 Having a relatively cool climate helps keep many species from surviving here. But ultimately, being an island is the reason we don’t have the same number as the rest of Europe, the English Channel being the main barrier on this occasion.
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