Fear is something that we all encounter periodically in our lives. For some people, fear can be more debilitating and long-lasting than for others. However, we all can learn how to train our minds to overcome fears. Mastering this skill is a good way to help us navigate through life and prevent fear from keeping us from a fulfilling and joyful life.
1| Get Comfortable
It can seem counterintuitive to get comfortable with fear, but this can be one of the most useful strategies for training your mind to overcome fear. The more comfortable you are with the emotional and physical sensations of fear the better you’ll be able to manage those sensations. Additionally, when you know what to look out for you can implement helpful coping strategies before things get too far out of hand.
2| Know Your Triggers
We all have things that are prone to lead us to feel fear. Being aware of those things ahead of time can help us deal with them when they arise. In some instances we may be able to avoid our triggers, thereby avoiding fear altogether. In situations where this is not possible, knowing and spotting our triggers can help us to develop mechanisms for coping so that our fears don’t overwhelm us.
3| Mental Rehearsal
Mental rehearsal is the act of practicing something mentally so that you can become more comfortable with it. Often, the more prepared you are to handle a situation, the less fearful it seems. This means that rehearsing the event, speech, or get-together can help you prepare what you might do or say so that you can feel at ease when it actually occurs.
4| Shift Focus
When you spend too much time focusing on the source of your fear, it can actually become even bigger for you mentally and emotionally. It becomes important to shift your focus away from the fear so that you can manage it appropriately.
This gives you the mental rest you need to get yourself back to a state of calm so that you can approach the situation from a more reasonable perspective and make sound decisions.
5| Pause
There is nothing wrong with taking a moment, a few hours, or even a few days to assess a situation before really acting upon it. Sometimes fear can cause us to act or respond irrationally based solely on emotion.
However, when we are able to pause and assess or reflect, we can sometimes find that our fear may be irrational or that the source of our fear is less scary than we originally assumed.
6| Stay in the Present
Frequently, fear presents itself because we are unsure of what may happen in the future. Hyper focusing on potential failures or mishaps can drive you crazy and make you imagine things that likely won’t happen.
Thus, choosing to remain in the present can prevent you from going down a rabbit hole of worst-case scenarios. When you can focus on what is right in front of you, you are better able to focus your attention and efforts on what can be controlled, reducing anxiety and stress related to fear.
Via these measures and others like it can help you to train your mind so that fear has less of a hold over you. When you are consistent and intentional in your implementation of these techniques, you can see improvement in the short and long term.
