5 Ways You Can Master Your Fears

One thing that has hindered many from realizing their full potential and becoming all they can be is fear. Just take a time to imagine about all you could have achieved if you weren’t afraid of anything. Our fears can be real or unreal, rational or irrational.
The unreal and irrational ones are the ones that we create in our minds. These are the ones that paralyze us the most. When we are overwhelmed by such fears there is really no much we can do. We all experience fear. But the issue is how we can keep fear from stopping us. And the only way we can do that is to master them. To be successful in life, you need to learn how to master your fears.
I have hear 5 ways you can achieve that;
Develop the Courage to Act: It was Mark Twain that said, “do what you are afraid of and the death of fear is certain.” Courage simply means choosing to act regardless of your fear. It does not necessarily mean the absence of fear. The good news is that courage is a habit that can be learned. One can develop this habit by consistently trying out something new, moving out of one’s comfort zone and challenging oneself.

I think the most important kind of courage one should develop is the courage to begin. Remember Inaction breeds more fear. When we have the courage to take the first step our fears are no longer in control; we are!
Build your Confidence/Self-esteem: When one has low self-confidence or low self-esteem, such one is likely to be timid and fearful. Such people are usually afraid of failure, afraid of what people will think etc. because they don’t think or believe they are good enough. This paralyses them and keeps them from taking any constructive action towards achieving their heart desires or goals. This is often as a result of childhood conditioning. Many of them were made to believe they are not good enough while growing up. Their minds have accepted that as a reality. All such people need to do is have a change of mindset. Check out this post Healthy Self-esteem Leads to Quality performancefor more on that.
Seek Knowledge and Understanding: We tend to fear anything we do not have adequate or accurate knowledge about. However, with understanding we see our fears disappearing. This implies that Ignorance or limited knowledge can create or contribute to fear. Ignorance breeds doubt and doubt can make us insecure about the action or step we are about to take. When we have facts and enough information about something, it helps us to build courage and confidence in that area. With the light of knowledge we usually see that there was no basis or reason for our fears.
Define and Analyze Your Fears: Another way we can deal with fear is by identifying and analyzing our fears and the reasons we are afraid.
Ask yourself:
“What would likely happen if I do nothing?”
“What is the worst that could happen if I take the step I am about to take?”
“Is it worth the headache?”
“How likely is it to happen?”
“How can I reduce the possibility of its occurrence to the barest minimum?”
If we can identify what it is that we are actually afraid of and the reason for our fears, it makes it easier to for us to deal with them.
Focus On Your Strong Points: An often time the reason fear creeps into our lives is because we know everything about our weaknesses (things we are not good at) and little or nothing about our strengths. We exalt our weaknesses above our strengths. When we focus on our strengths, somehow we find ourselves countering the effects of fear. Conquering fear demands self-awareness, understanding and focusing on one’s strengths.

Source:Successflame.com