Overcoming Worries and Fears How to Overcome your Worries and Fears
It’s human
nature to worry, but did you know that a research project at Penn State
University found that 91% of what people worry about never actually
happens? In other words, most of your
fears never come true.
However, that
still leaves 9% of worries that do come true but, fortunately, the same
research revealed that on these occasions 70% of people found they handled the
situation better than they had expected and/or they learned something valuable
from what happened. In other words, their
fear had been worse than the actual situation.
Always remember
that, like you, everyone worries and experiences fear - but most of those fears
never materialise! When they do they
will rarely be as bad as you imagined, you’ll handle them better than you
expected and you’ll often learn something useful along the way.
There’s no
single ‘magic bullet’ that will overcome your worries and fears and stop them
from ruining your life but here are three strategies that may help.
Embrace your fear. The Swiss
psychologist Carl Jung believed that “What
you resist not only persists but will grow in size.” The more you shy away from your worries
and fears the more they will grow and come to dominate your life. But once you acknowledge and accept them for
what they really are they will shrink and lose their hold on you.
Reframe your fear. Many people
are habitual ‘catastrophisers’, always assuming the worst will happen. If you find yourself thinking like this remember
that 91% of fears never come true, start thinking about the BEST possible
outcome, and then focus your imagination on exploring that scenario.
Develop your courage. Just like any
skill, courage starts small and becomes bigger and stronger the more you use
it. Practice removing worry from your
life one fear at a time and, each time you do, your courage will grow.
When it comes
down to it we don’t have much control over the good and bad things that happen
to us. But two things we can control are
our mind-set and our response to circumstances.
Facing up to your fears is a sure way of overcoming them so why not
start right now? Acknowledge a fear that’s worrying you, embrace it, reframe it and
overcome it with your new-found courage.
Gradually remove your fears one by one and you’ll be free to enjoy life
again.
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And if you'd like to know more about overcoming your fears and worries or feel you need some help to make the most of these techniques just click here .
