Fear
Fear as most of us may know is an emotion. In fact, it is one of the most powerful emotions that we experience. Therefore, it can have a very strong effect on our mind and body.
When we are in danger, fear can create a strong signal to our body to respond quickly to it. For example, if the house we are living in catches fire, extreme fear will kick in and instantly our mind will instruct our body to run out of the building.
But fear can also come upon some of us when we are faced with situations that may not be so serious. For example, when we are getting close to an exam, when we have to face a job interview, when we want to ask someone out on a date or may be even when we need to attend a social event like a party. At such times, fear can come on us as a natural response to what we perceive to be a threat to the success we want. This fear is therefore completely dependent on how we perceive that particular situation.
This shows us that we should not take all fear that we experience as a signal of complete danger. As we can see, our perception of the situation, and as a result, the fear that it brings upon us, may not be in proportion to reality.
Some of us, on the other hand, even though we perceive a situation as a threat, are still able to use it to our benefit to get the success we want. For example, if we perceive that the exam we are about to sit is going to be difficult to clear - we may use the fear that it creates to revise more frequently so that we don't fail the exam.
Hence, we must be careful that we don't let fear that is created from not so dangerous situations to sabotage us; instead, we must learn to use it to positively work for us.
As a first step to overcoming fear - the following are some suggestions that we can work on in the coming days.
- Go through each day mindful and aware of what makes us afraid. Keep a record of it.
- Intentionally create some time at the end of each day to reflect on these fears.
Then ask the following questions:
- Why am I so afraid of this particular situation?
- What about it is causing me so much fear?
If we have no answers to these questions, except to say 'I really don't know' – it is still perfectly alright. At least, we have started taking the first step to become aware of our fears and to ask these questions from ourselves.
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