Fear: Let It Go!

Fear is an emotion that has been there in all of us. We aren’t born with it but it is created within us. It is something that attaches itself to us so dearly that it takes a lot of courage to detach it from yourself. 

Just like everyone, I have fears of my own. It is an emotion that can be found in everyone but not many people are ready to overcome it. The word ‘ Fear ‘ itself gives us shivers and creates a sense of anxiety within. Here are a few ways you can overcome fear.

Before I start, I want you to read this with an open mind and an understanding of yourself. Please, do not think of yourself as anything less than all the people you see as fearless. We all start somewhere and taking a step itself is a big change in your life.

1- Embrace yourself.

You need to remember that you are doing this for yourself. You have made this decision to let your fear go. It all starts with you and your willpower. I know it will be scary and oftentimes you might want to give up. Don’t! Don’t give up! You know you are capable of doing it. You are capable of embracing yourself. You can meditate, collect your thoughts and think over them. You need to identify the sources of these fears while being kind to yourself. 

2- Identify your fears.

Write down your fears. You can take some paper and a pen. List down all the fears you can think of. It can be anything; big or small. It doesn’t matter. Just write them down. If you feel like it, you can write as in why they are your fears. If you feel that you want to stop midway, it’s okay. You can collect yourself and get back to it. It doesn’t matter how much time you take to get back to it but please make sure to get back to it. 

3- Find the source of your fears.

All our fears come from some sources. They can come from anywhere and anyone. Understanding the source of your fear helps you to understand a bit better why you are so afraid of it. Let’s say, you are afraid of spiders because when you were small ad spider's long legs scared you. Now here, the fear of spiders is there because of the source that their long legs scared you as a child which you have carried to your later life. Sometimes, you might not meet with any source that seems to build fear in you. It's alright! You might not be having a source for it now. Maybe later in life, you will come across it.

4- Reasoning

Let’s be honest. Our fear lacks our reasoning. We never try to reason why we are afraid of something. A lot of things add up like over-thinking, anxiety, etc., which doesn’t let us build a reason towards the fear. You can take the list [ step 1 ] and identify if those fears are something that passed onto you from someone else or something that has been instilled in you without any particular reason. We give a lot of negative reasons to our fears like failing in a test as ' I'm going to fail in other tests too.' Whereas, the reason could be our lack of preparations for the test or the teacher's way of evaluation.

5- Take tiny steps to face the fear. 

You already proved that you are courageous by taking the decision to let go of your fear. Now is the time to take tiny steps. Not small but tiny. The reason I mentioned tiny is that sometimes small seems too big to some of us. So take tiny steps to face your fears. Let’s say, you have a fear of dogs. It comes from the time a stray has bitten you in your childhood. In order to get over your fear, Maybe you can spend some time with small and cute puppies. Puppies are harmless and quite adorable. You can take the tiny step from there and upgrade as you feel more confident. 

6- Practice 

Letting go of fear takes practice. It might take time. Your consistent practices and ability to reflect on yourself will surely let you win over your fears. There might be others you see who have overcome their fears sooner than you but you need to remind yourself that everyone is different and so are you. There will be different levels and timings for everyone.

Lastly, I would like to say that there are fears emotionally, mentally, socially, and physically. I have kept the steps quite general as a reminder to all of us who are doing it on our own. I have used these steps for self-evaluation as well as trying my best to get over some of my fears.

See you in my next article!