Facing Your Fears Head On

You experience that heart-racing, unsettled, gut-wrenching feeling every time you’re scared or anxious. While fear is a normal, helpful mechanism that alerts you and helps you prepare for danger, it can become irrational to the point of getting in your way and preventing you from enjoying life. Even if you know your fear is unrealistic, it can still interfere with your daily living.

Unmasking Your Fears

Almost everyone is afraid of something. Whether you’re scared of hairy spiders, afraid of the dark, or fearful of being rejected, you live with anxiety in some form. Maybe your palms get sweaty or your stomach churns, but no matter how real and scary your feeling is, it’s only a product of your mind. Fear is a negative, imagined thought about what will happen in the future. Precisely because you don’t really know what is going to happen, what you fear may not be true.

In truth, fear can keep you in the background. It has a way of convincing you of your shortcomings and inability to accomplish your dreams. When you’re afraid, you prefer to keep quiet in your corner, limit your potential, make your world smaller, and separate yourself from the people you love. Fear can paralyze you and keep you from living your best life. How many times have you lost opportunities or turned away from a relationship because your fear got the best of you?

The Antidote to Fear

Some fears are healthy and helpful, especially when you need to avoid situations for your own personal safety. Some fears relate to concrete things, such as fear of heights or water, while others are about your own inadequacies or incompetence, like fear of public speaking or failure. In most circumstances, it feels easiest and safest to steer clear of whatever it is that you’re afraid of in order to avoid being hurt, humiliated, or rejected.

Avoidance only reinforces that your fear has a grip on you. It deepens that anxious illusion and proves that your fear is valid. Running from fear doesn’t work; it will bite at your heels forever. On the other hand, facing your fear and doing the thing you’re most afraid of can be the best antidote. In conquering your fears, you gain a sense of your own power and abilities. Facing your fears head on, rather than backing down, empowers you while your anxiety and phobia lose strength.

When Fears Overpower You

Fears don’t always cause significant disruptions in your life. For example, if you fear cats, you can simply choose not to have one as a pet. On the other hand, if you have a severe phobia of heights and you live in a high-rise condominium, the fear would be a daily problem.

If your fears don’t make your life more difficult, there’s nothing to be worried about. However, if you constantly avoid everyday objects, activities, or situations that trigger anxiety, consider seeking help. Apart from the common and disabling physical manifestations of phobia, there are other signs that indicate it’s time to get professional assistance:

Your phobia disables you and triggers anxiety and panic.
Your fear is excessive and baseless.
Your avoidance disrupts your daily living.
You have been suffering from negative and fearful thoughts for at least six months.

Taking Your Fears by the Horns

It’s not easy to manage fears, especially if you don’t really understand them. Anxiety and phobia can get the best of you and make you feel totally helpless each day. Some people use alcohol or other substances just to run away or hide from their fears. Keep in mind that these can only make things worse in the long run. It’s important to know the facts about anxiety to improve your life.

The key is to be smart in handling your fears, especially if they are more emotional than physical in nature. Take advantage of the help offered by Carolina Counseling Services — Pittsboro, NC, for people like you who are having trouble overcoming their fears. The right-fit therapist among the independently contracted counselors at CCS can help you understand your fears and conquer your anxiety. Sometimes, it takes talking to someone you trust to help you make your fear disappear.

Contact CCS — Pittsboro, NC, now! It may be the right place to bring your fears to light.