Conquering Fear

This weekend I listened to a radio show that was talking about fear and it’s place in modern society. It was a subject that immediately grabbed my attention. As we all know in times long ago we needed fear to activate our instincts, fear was how we stayed alive in the face of a multitude of dangers. However, times have changed and we are no longer the prey. In fact, we are the greatest predators to walk the planet since the dinosaurs and yet we still experience fear regularly. Our fear response is still as active as it once was and while we may not be dealing with angry bears on a regular basis we have new and modern sources of fear. Our minds are the likeliest culprit conjuring up all of the terrible things that could possibly happen – we panic about missing car keys, going on a date, signing a contract. The mass media accounts for a good portion of our fears too – updates on the atrocities happening around the world and while this is essential for keeping ourselves informed, it often forms unhealthy levels of paranoia and anxiety. Fear has turned us into mental prisoners rather than giving us information about dangerous situations.

Fear should exist only to alert us to situations in which we need to be wary and on guard and it shouldn’t keep us paralyzed in our day to day life. The worst thing is that we’re taught that living in fear is normal, we’re led believe that fear is innate to us and therefore immutable. Here at Conquering Life we’d like to tell you that Conquering fear is within everyone’s grasp. We can conquer fear using our most powerful weapons -our minds.

To conquer fear we have to really look at what we’re afraid of. First, we have to accept that we are afraid and that fear is a natural reaction. Second, we have to assess our fear, both the reality and rationality. Thirdly, we incorporate that information into tools. And lastly, we use these tools to change our perception; and little by little our feelings towards our fear. So for example, a person who has a deep-rooted fear of bears must first accept this (and not beat themselves up about it. Secondly, they have to assess where this fear comes from and why – as well as the probability of actual danger of running into a bear. Thirdly using the information gathered they can start catching themselves and running through the facts of their fear; and lastly they can start making constructive changes to the way they deal with the fear until soon enough it no longer holds any power.

Facing our fears is the only way we can defeat them because fear is something we create around something. One isn’t born afraid of bears, it’s something that gets developed over time, and often times doesn’t require an actual encounter with a bear. Fear comes from within which makes it as hard to run away from as running away from ourselves (which means it’s impossible). Through Conquering Life I’ve managed to build a solid foundation for myself that gives me the power to face the things I fear (or rather feared). Don’t live life in fear, go forward and conquer life today!