You’re not alone if you’ve ever felt paralyzed by fear or worry. Many of us, if not all, know how it feels to be held back by this heavy emotion. Looking closely, it comes in many forms and differs for each person.
For others, it feels like a dread that never goes away, while some of its effects manifest through headaches, panic attacks, and nausea. Whichever way you experience this dread, remember that it is a natural emotion. However, it’s also powerful, often accompanied by worry, anxiety, and overthinking.
Letting go of fear
Fear in life can hold us back from reaching our full potential. As it takes over your life, it begins to affect your performance in school or work, causing you to procrastinate or doubt yourself. As the stress and anxiety pile on, you struggle to achieve your goals. Sometimes, when it gets too much to handle, it can even cause you to shut down.
You must work toward letting go of the fear that prevents you from living life to the fullest. Naturally, the process does not happen overnight, but taking steps to free yourself from its clutches is already a leap toward a more productive and fulfilling future.
5 ways to manage your fears and take back control of your life
1. Know and understand what you fear
The first step is awareness. Identify what you fear and why and how it impacts your life. What are your triggers? Why is this holding you back? Why does it make you feel a certain way? Write these down, and list your concerns.
The better your understanding of what you dread, the more effectively you can manage your emotions and regain control.
2. Confront your fears
As clichéd as it sounds, exposing yourself to what you fear is an effective process for managing this emotion and your response and taking back control. You can choose between gradually facing your fears or diving in all at once, whichever works for you. What’s important is that you are not hiding and letting the fear win.
Pushing through this challenging process gives you a rewarding result. As you face your fears, they become less overwhelming until you’ve finally overcome them.
3. Practice relaxation techniques
Knowing how to calm or relax your mind is a great skill when letting go of fear. Let’s say you are anxious about a project failing. Once this takes control, you end up frozen and full of worry instead of using that time to do more productive things.
Practicing relaxation techniques like yoga or meditation helps soothe the mind and body so you can let go of the tension and paralyzing emotion.
4. Open up to someone
Having a support system or someone to rely on is helpful when dealing with what you dread. Whether they are your family, friends, support group, or therapist, having someone to talk to about your worries takes a lot off your chest.
Aside from moral support, they can offer advice, managing strategies, and different points of view. There’s a reason people seek the help of a professional therapist, and it’s because they have the strategy and knowledge to help you. In a way, talking about what scares you enables you to see your fears eye to eye and not the overwhelmingly paralyzing presence that holds you back.
5. Practice self-compassion
In fear and negativity, most people forget to be kind to themselves. Fear, anxiety, and worry combined with self-criticism is a recipe for negativity. Being too hard on yourself isn’t helping you conquer any of these. Instead, this helps them grow.
When this emotion sometimes gets the best of you, or you make mistakes, practice self-compassion and understand that you are doing your best. Instead of pressuring yourself, practice patience. As mentioned before, letting go is a challenging process. While staying persistent is essential, so is being kind to yourself.
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