Coping with Fear

We’re always told to face our fears, but what we’re not often told is how exactly we’re supposed to go about doing that. Crushing those little voices of doubt can be more challenging than we could ever imagine. But breaking the powerful grip and cycle of fearful thoughts needs to be met head-on with strategic methods that can begin to dissipate and dissolve what it is that’s confining you or holding you back.

Coping with fear means learning how to alter your thoughts and push through those barriers that fear can throw up in an instant. To help you overcome your fear and prevent it from holding you back in life, here are some proven methods that can help you tame and dissolve those voices of doubt.

Create A Character To Symbolize Your Fear

This may sound a bit strange, but by creating a character and putting a “face and a name” to your fear, you can begin to better understand and control it. You can choose any type of character that feels accurate in representing your fear – an animal, or even a TV character.

It’s important to understand that fear comes from an instinctual area of the brain that’s responsible for warding off danger – our fight or flight reactions – but it can’t necessarily recognize rational from irrational fears. But by doing this simple exercise, you can begin to distinguish between your irrational fear and yourself. Giving your fear an identity allows you to really understand what it is and how you can really learn to control it.

Write Down Your Worst Case Scenarios

Often, our thoughts have a tendency to jump to our worst case scenarios, even if they have or will never happen. So if you find that you’re fearful of something in particular, write down the worst case scenarios that you have conjured up in your mind. By doing this, you can help extinguish your thoughts by recognizing the reality and unlikelihood of them actually occurring, or that they really aren’t so bad after all. Also, write out potential solutions underneath each scenario of how you could address them if they ever did happen to occur. This is a very effective exercise that can assist you in overcoming your fears.

Don’t Get Paralyzed By Fear

Coping with fear is important so that you don’t end up being paralyzed by it. Fearful thoughts can be immensely powerful at taking control of both your body and mind, causing you to get stuck in a vicious cycle. Taking even the slightest baby steps towards overcoming your anxiety can amount to much larger ones over time, gradually helping you move past your stagnation.

Ask For Help

Sometimes, the challenge of tackling fear on your own can be extremely difficult. So it’s important to place your pride aside and always reach out for help when you feel as though your fear is taking control. Seeking guidance from a therapist, talking to a friend or family member, or joining a support network are some excellent and effective ways to break down those walls that are confining you.

If you’re ready to talk to a professional therapist in Ottawa for coping with fear, you can reach out to us at the Ottawa Counselling Services. We’re here to help you gain back control and start living life on your own terms.
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