How to Face Your Fears Head-On

Photo by M.T ElGassier on Unsplash

We all have fears.

Every single one of us.

It's normal... Fears are a part of being human.

Some fears are well-justified. While other fears are head-scratching.

Today’s blog will provide a counterintuitive strategy for facing your fears.

This strategy is best suited for fears that get triggered in spontaneous situations. These are situations such as talking to new people, getting crammed into small spaces, and encountering an animal or insect.

Let’s dive in.

What is fear?

Fear is a survival mechanism. It keeps us alive by acting as a warning siren.

This siren goes off when we are about to do or think about something our brain perceives as dangerous.

Having this survival mechanism has benefits. It’s nice to be warned about potential dangers.

But this survival mechanism also has significant drawbacks.

For instance, sometimes your brain causes you to fear things you have no logical reason to be afraid of. 

Your brain can catastrophize about what could go wrong. But 99% of the time, these things never happen.

Being controlled by irrational fears is not a healthy way to live.

Your fears will destroy you. 

So, you must face them. And you need to overcome them.

If you don’t face them, you’ll regret it. 

How to face your fears

To overcome your fears, many blog articles recommend creating an "action plan."This isn't helpful sometimes.

Creating an action plan will make you think about your fears more than you need to. This overthinking will make the fear seem scarier than it actually is.

If you want to overcome your fears, you need to think about them LESS.

Once you decide to face your fear, the next step is to face your fear as soon as possible.

Waste no time thinking, planning, or strategizing about how to face it.

Just do it.

Granted, there are some circumstances where you will need to do a little bit of planning to face them. But this planning should only be on the logistics of where, when, and how you’ll face them. For instance, if you're afraid of skydiving, you'd need to book a skydiving trip.

Do not create a plan for how you’ll respond to the fear. Face the fear head-on.

The less planning you do, the better. 

Overplanning your response prevents you from genuinely interacting with the thing you fear.  

There's no need to mentally rehearse how you'll react once you face your fear.

You know it's going to be a tough experience for you.

But it will make you a better person.

Embracing your fear will allow you to let go of it, which eliminates the fear.

Be brave and trust your courage.

Stay calm and act as rationally as possible when facing your fear.

If you overreact a bit, that's ok! 

Reapproach the fear and try again. The 2nd time approaching your fear is easier than the 1st time. Hopefully, you can laugh at how you reacted afterward. You'll realize the experience wasn't as bad as you thought it would be.

You might even have fun!

Wrapping up

Today’s blog was a general introduction to facing fears.

This strategy isn’t for every type of fear you may have. And it may not be a strategy that best suits your needs.

But I’ve found it has helped me more than any other strategy for facing my fears.

There are other strategies you can use such as exposure therapy, where you gradually introduce the fear into your life in small doses. 

Would you like to learn more about this strategy? Leave a comment to let me know, please.