Do you allow fear to grasp you by the spine

I had a dream last night. I lost everything that is dear to me- my kids, my family, loved ones, friends, my work and the materialistic things that I had acquired over my life time. In all honesty I had a fear of losing everything. And it made me so upset that when I woke up I was disturbed and had dry tears settled around my eyes.

This is the fear in its true sense. The fear of losing dear ones, of the uncertainty of tomorrow and disappointment which leads to anxiety! But the only way to overcome this fear is to be afraid of the fear and nothing else.

Franklin D. Roosevelt in his inaugural speech used the expression which resonates even today- “the only thing we have to fear is the fear itself.” The terror of the uncertain future that grips the entire world is unprecedented.

The peoples of the world are facing a threat to their life, which leads to a lot of fear and anxiety. This fear that grips everyone around us is causing us to face bottomless pit, where we can simply get lost and never rise again. But in such dire circumstances, we all need to help ourselves and fellow human beings to let go of this fear and come out of this vicious cycle.

How to get over fear

• Turn “I can’t” into “I can”
  Fear is like a paralytic attack. You feel like that your life has abruptly paused and you feel dumped under sand, unable to breathe. But in order to win over your fear you need to turn this negative thought and focus on something positive.
  When people are afraid, there is excessive sweating and the mouth dries but when we start focusing on those things what we can do, we can break this cycle and come out of it.
• Visualize
  Visualization is great! It helps counter fear in the best way possible. We often visualize what we want to achieve. It is a superb tool to achieve whatever your heart desires. When we sit and relax and think about what we want and see each step clearly in our mind, there is little or no scope for any doubt or fear. That factor is exterminated.
• Confront your fear
  Popular TV shows have been aired that let certain celebrities come face to face with whatever they fear. Apart from the entertainment quotient, they also help to realize that man can overcome any fear just by confronting it. Fear is only present in mind if we be brave enough and tell the fear, that “I am not afraid” it can be overcome easily.
• Do not let it control you
  Once the person moves away from the things that scares him or imbibe fear, it does not have any control over the person. Never deny that fear itself scares. Take control of the situation and find fear shrinking.
• Divert and channelize
  Another way of dealing with fear is to divert the mind and focus on something that is more important and bring in the positive side. Find out what you can achieve and focus all the energy being wasted on being afraid into self-improvement.

A crucial point to be noted here is that giving into fear is going to make you lose the sane and rational thinking. Thus it is important to fear only the fear itself and take complete charge and go ahead.

Preeti Bhandari

A mother of two, Preeti Bhandari is a colloquial writer. She believes in simple living which reflects in her writings. As the Editor of Narisakti, she intends to use her vast experience to propel this platform to a cult status among entrepreneurial networks.

When not writing she is quilling, both with paper and thoughts.