All human beings experience fear — including babies. Fear has both biological roots and psychological influences, and can be rational (i.e. being afraid of poisonous snakes), or irrational (i.e. having a fear of balloons). While we may all differ in the ways in which we process and respond to fear, we all share a common experience dealing with fear in our lives. If we accept that fear is universal, the next question is around what it takes to overcome fear so that you are not bound by the limitations of fear?
Courage > Fear
Overcoming fear requires courage, so lets unpack what that means. Courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s the choice to act despite it. Fear says to us, “This is dangerous, avoid it,” while courage points our thinking in a healthier direction, “This is scary, but it’s worth trying.” By shifting our mental perspective, courage transforms fear from a stop sign into a challenge to grow.
To recap: Everybody experiences fear, but developing courage allows us to overcome fear.
Courage starts by making a conscious choice to be courageous — not an easy decision, but one very worthwhile to make. By approaching tasks with a courageous mindset, behavioral actions are activated that break us from old habits of freezing up. Courage pushes us forward, and that first behavioral action reduces fear’s power and the brain learns “I can do this!” Often when we try to overcome things, we experience some degree of success, and that helps us develop the self-confidence needed for the next challenge that heads our way. A second benefit by employing courage toward a challenge centers around resiliency — by merely trying we are developing mental toughness, another great quality (in addition to confidence) that grows when we choose courage over fear.
Is being courageous easy?? Absolutely not! But without courage we end up battling ourselves, experiencing needless anxiety, and turning potential winnable moments into near impossibilities. Over time, our mental health suffers, and we perform well below our capabilities. While not easy, being courageous is a choice, so choose wisely! One nice place to start when thinking about increasing courage might be to look at the things that cause you irrational fear (the type of fear that does not put you in harms way). Perhaps you have a phobia you could target — like spiders, heights, or flying — and begin with breathing and visualization exercises to help you overcome. While you might not eliminate the fear the first time, if you use determination coupled with anxiety-reducing behaviors, your odds for future success increase dramatically.
Final thoughts
Remember, everyone experiences fear, but it takes courage to overcome fear. Overcoming fear does mean you need to live a reckless life, but to instead revisit previous people, places, and situations that you have experienced anxiety and uncertainty. With each new victory your confidence will increase, as will your resiliency, qualities commonly found with happy, successful people. On the other hand, allowing fear to direct your every move will steal from a wonderful life experience, and prevent you from becoming your best self.
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