How to Overcome our Fears & Anxieties?

Franklin D. Roosevelt ?said in 1932?“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. Yet there are a lot of scary things out there. Knowing how to deal with and overcome fear and anxiety in both personal and professional lives is crucial. While managing our fear and anxiety well — and knowing the difference between the two — is important to our?mental health ?and career success.

We all may have experienced what it’s like to be afraid of something, be it experiencing thunderstorm in a turbulent flight, a complicated surgery, losing someone really close to us or fear of losing our jobs.?

Difference between Fear and Anxiety

Fear?is generally a short-lived reaction, while?Anxiety?can be ever-present. Both share physical sensations, like racing heart, muscle tension, a tingle or a cold chill, and increased breathing rate. These physical sensations are part of the body’s fight-or-flight response. They prepare us to take quick action by diverting our resources to necessary functions.?

Following five steps may be our ticket to getting rid of fear and anxiety disorders in our lives?

1. Sharing is Difficult — But not Impossible

Of course, sharing something is often easier said than done.?A??study ?says that describing your fears helps you overcome them. Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that people could better overcome their fears by labelling and talking about them rather than trying to ignore them.

Researchers ?took 88 participants outdoors and told them to walk towards the hairy tarantula as far as they could get. They were then asked to talk about the emotions they felt about the terrifying experience. A week later the volunteers were brought back to face off with the spider. Those who had expressed their fears and emotions the week before fared far better the second time around and expressed less physical fear towards the spider, such as sweaty palms or increased heart rate.

2. Prepare & practice

The long-standing top fear in the corporate world is addressing large gathering i.e., public speaking. In?surveys , death itself ranks in second place to standing in front of a group and opening mouth. If our fear is related to our performance in a certain activity then let’s prepare, practice, and role play.

Carmine Gallo, author of?Talk Like TED , talked about?Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor ?who practiced?her popular TED talk ?(over 18 million views and counting) more than 200 times. If we don’t have that much time, practicing a work-related presentation a minimum of 05 times is ideal.?

3. Stand & Face your Fear?

We tend to admire people who are quick to action, but being deliberate, creating a plan, and pacing oneself are also actions.

Many a successful undertaking has been threatened or ruined by haste alone. When fear strikes consider whether the correct action might be to analyze the options and make a wise, well thought out choice rather than jumping to what seems right in the heat of the moment.

4. Increase Optimism?

Brian Tracy ?asks his readers “What would you do differently if you were absolutely guaranteed of success in any undertaking?” Would you try more things? Would you keep working long after others would have given up? People who have positive attitudes are successful because they keep trying after others give up.

As the most common mental illness in the United States, anxiety disorders affect?40 million ?adults.?If we look at anxiety from a psychological understanding, we think about it as a miscalculation. Human beings have something called human negativity bias, which means we are hardwired to pay more attention to threatening and scary information than positive, assuring information.

5. Check in within yourself

When we’re working long hours full of back-to-back in-person or Zoom meetings, it can be hard to find the time to check in with ourselves. But we can’t effectively share our emotions with others until we begin to recognize them ourselves. If we’re not sure where to start, try one of these techniques:

1. Track your emotions ?just like the daily “temperature check.”
2. Set aside time to?write ?or talk about our emotions. This could be through journals, letters to a friend (whether you send them or not), or conversations with a loved one or mental health professional.
3. Create a routine.?Research shows ?that even fifteen minutes of intentional reflection at the end of the day or during your commute can boost performance and build our emotional awareness.

Conclusion

In a nutshell,?we all struggle with stress, anxiety, and other difficult emotions. But it can be tough to figure out what to do with these feelings, especially if we’re the ones who are supposed to be leading and supporting others.?Although unpleasant, fear is a healthy response. Our fight-or-flight response keeps us alive, safe, and thriving. When constant fear prevents you from living life to the fullest, though, it becomes anxiety.

On the surface, anxiety looks very much like fear. And they're rooted in the same emotion. But anxiety occurs when fear becomes maladaptive (the psychological term for when a normal response gets out of control).?There is no more sure way to fail than to never try. Going forward, don’t let fear kill your hustle before you even get moving.?

About the Author

Muhammad Sajwani ?is the Founder and Managing Director of?Evolve HR ?which aims at transforming,?enriching and evolving Human Capital of Pakistan,?Evolve HR thrives in challenging assumptions that hinder organisational aspirations, by creating innovative solutions that yield maximum impact, scalability & benefit to a wider base of stakeholders.?As a Business Coach and Organisational Consultant, Sajwani knows how to combine business insights with people insights to transform organisations and put them on the path to growth.?

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