Overcome Your Fears by Spending Time With Them.
Fear can overwhelm any rational response you normally get. In the end, he should. Fear is designed to keep us safe from threats. The problem is when it is applied to something that we don’t need to fear. To overcome this fear, spend time with the thing that you fear to ease that burden.
It may sound like Liam Neeson is teaching Batman , but in reality, the advice comes from a less comic source. Harvard Medical School professor Ronald Siegel suggests that you can practice dealing with anxiety by allowing yourself to feel the anxiety. The more comfortable you are with your thoughts, the less likely you are to succumb to them:
Now that you have a clear experience of anxiety, try to amplify it. Do it as hard as you can while sitting here holding this book. Do not worry; it’s safe. I promise this won’t last forever. Once you feel like you’ve caused as much anxiety as you can, consider if you can contain it. Set a timer or look at the clock and try to keep the alarm at the same level for at least 10 minutes. If it starts to fade, try boosting again. Now that you’ve learned how to deal with your anxiety, you can return your attention to your breathing for a few more minutes and feel what it is like.
Sometimes this can come from simple meditation, but sometimes you need to step out of your comfort zone and experience what you are afraid of. Whether it’s height, public speaking, or partying, the more you are confronted with what you fear, the less likely you are to panic the next time you face it. Except for the spiders. It’s okay to be afraid of spiders.
How To Beat Fear, Backed By Research | Bark on the wrong tree