Everyone has experienced fear, dreadful fear at least once in life. Whatever be the cause of fear, it is really unpleasant. Whether the causative agent of your fear is your job interview, your board exams, meeting your partner's parents for the first time, facing your mother after you broke her hair dryer, fear of getting caught while cheating or unknown fear when you are alone walking on a dark silent night, you feel a chill down your spine while imagining the moment of fear. Nobody wants to relive that moment of fear. So, everyone will make attempts to avoid the fearful situation as much as possible.
But, you cannot evade every situation that causes your fear. You must face and overcome them. For example, if you are afraid of dogs, you can avoid dogs; if you are afraid of bungee jumping, you can avoid that; if you are afraid of having an accident while riding a motorbike, you can go by public bus instead; but there are some fearful situations which you cannot evade where you feel powerless and without control of the situation like, when you have to give job interviews, when you have to give your exams, or when you have to fly in an aeroplane to go overseas (if you have aerophobia/aviophobia); you must do it anyhow. In such situations where you feel like you've gotten yourself in an impasse, what will you do?
Firstly, you need to know whether your fear based on something logical/rational or not, whether there is some possibility of an accident, injury, financial loss, loss of reputation, or even threat to life. Then, you'll know the rationality of your fear. If you're fearful of bungee-jumping, that's fine because there is some possibility of some injury if anything unanticipated happens; fear of rafting, fear of wild animals, fear of fire, fear of firearms, fear of missiles, fear of dacoits or fear of snakes are rational fears as they actually carry some risk with them. But, some people have fear of cockroaches, wild animals in the television screen, fear of clowns, fear of some plants, fear of some specific colors which are totally irrational. These things are perfectly harmless which makes the fear irrational. So, next time you fear, check whether your fear is rational or not.
And, know whether you can control your fear by doing anything or not. If you cannot control the situation or lessen your fear and anxiety by any means, why should you fear? Though some fears are beneficial for producing better results, like an employee fearing his boss to produce maximum output, student fearing the exam and preparing well to score higher, or a driver fearing that he might lose focus and cause accident, at many instances fear can be counterproductive because it cripples us physically as well as mentally. We are unable to think, imagine and act to that ultimate potential we can if some fear lurks within us. Accustomizing with the situation and adequate preparation for the challenge could virtually make us fearless in most of the situations.
Even after adequate preparation, accustomizing yourself of the situation, and checking the rationality of the fear, you are having fear, then you'll have to resort to this last step, which is visualizing the worst situation in your imagination. What possible situations might arise for you to face as the sequela of your complete failure in the situation? Is it completely reversible? Is the damage so bad and irreversible that you won't be able to make it up again? The answer you get will delight you. Nothing is irreparable. Even if it is, you can have a new start from the scratch. What is important is you should never lose hope. Let go of the fears you have and live every moment to the full potential without paralyzing yourself. Remember how many times you thought, "Oh, My God! Save me. Now, I am gone." in the past, but everything came out to be alright eventually. You are still here alive and kicking well. However dreadful the situation may seem, you'll be alright again. So, Fear no more - Live Fearless.
