Fear has been in my life for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it’s appeared as a small amount of anxiety and other times it’s made me freeze in my tracks, preventing me from doing anything. The most effective thing I’ve found with regards to handling fear is to prevent it from rising in the first place. When I’m focused, I can do this through meditation, floating, watching my thoughts, and controlling my breathing. It’s easiest to maneuver in life when I’m not afraid, but it’s still incredibly difficult for me to prevent fear from appearing and I often fail at it. If I can’t prevent fear, then the next best thing is to manage it.
I have a fairly good track record of staying the course and accomplishing my goals despite being afraid at times, so it’s gradually gotten easier to face my fears. As I move increasingly further out of my comfort zone and experience more of life, I feel much more comfortable in new situations than ever before. Additionally, after I’ve stayed in a new position for a while (usually long enough to have a good idea of what to expect), I then feel the urge to move beyond it and into yet another new comfort zone that’s even more challenging than the previous one. This can be difficult, but each level prepares me for the next one, so it usually feels more like a big step rather than a huge leap. Although I may stumble a bit and take a while to find my balance, I always manage to stabilize after I’ve taken that next step.
More often than not, the bad things that I’m afraid will happen never end up manifesting; it’s always a relief whenever this happens, as is feeling the fear dissolve until it’s gone. Even though I regularly make preparations to increase the chances of things going smoothly, I still sometimes get nervous that something might end badly. In those cases, I say to myself, “I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.” That simple phrase does two things. First, it helps me relax and avoid stressing over the outcome. And second, it reminds me that there are ways to handle whatever problems might arise and that I won’t be stuck in a bad position as long as I look for solutions. Having a solutions-based mindset helps me avoid a fear-based mindset and allows me to act more effectively when things do start going downhill.
I think that that is the answer to fear: preventing it whenever I can, managing if it appears, doing good things even if I’m afraid, and focusing on solutions. I’ve already done this in several areas, so now I just have to keep it in mind as I move toward some things that I’ve been avoiding out of fear. It may be tough, but having a plan that’s proven itself elsewhere in my life will make it easier and less stressful. I hope these realizations help you as much as they’ve helped me.