How to Stop Living in Fear

There are a number of ways to help stop living in fear. It all starts with analysing the emotion and seeing what it is invoking it. Once we know what we are afraid of, we can take steps to crush it. 27 ways to stop the fear below;

1. Be Aware

Be aware of your thoughts. Analyse them. Understand how the feeling of fear manifests itself in you. Do you shake? Feel on edge? Sweat? Feel sick? Is it constant rumination or thoughts? Understand so you know how to recognise the fear and anticipate it. Understanding that it is there and how it feels is the first step to overcoming it 

2. The Patterns

When you are aware of how the feeling manifests itself in you you can start to analyse the patterns and triggers. What makes the fear come on? Is it constant or sporadic? Are there certain physical or mental triggers? Understanding the triggers can help us to narrow where the fear is coming from and what we need to tackle  

3 Make A List

When analysing your thoughts, make a list of the things that are triggering fear in you. Writing them down in black and white will help to further identify and understand any underlying patterns. Seeing them in black and white can help start the mind shift to seeing where the problem lies and how to solve it

4. Rationalise

Work through the list and start to rationalise. Are these things really worth your time and attention (and your fear)? Ask what impact they would have if they actually happened? What is the worst that could happen if they did? Are they really worth your energy?

5. Change Your Perception

Life is all about perception, you can view things in any way, shape or form. Instead of being afraid of something, change it into a challenge. For example, if you’re afraid of your current workload and getting everything done, change the fear to a challenge to yourself. See how much you can do and then rationalise with the rest, you have done what you can. Which leads us on to…

6. Do Your Best 

When we do our best, we have a feeling inside us that allows us (or should allow us) to not be afraid or worry. We know that we have done we can in a given situation and that is all we could do.

7. Mix With Positive People

Positive people create positive vibes. Having an external influence of positivity and hope will help to keep fear at bay

8. Be Grateful

Being grateful and joyful can eliminate fear and worry. Instead or worrying about all of the thing we should or shouldn’t have done, be grateful for the things that we have or haven’t done. Changing the perspective like this can completely change the way we view life

9. Don’t Believe Everything You’re Told

As human beings we can be susceptible to messages that we are told and take them as gosple. Some things we are told can be harmful to us and keep us living in fear. Look at the source of the information, why they should matter and listen to the messages that you should care about and forget about the rest

10. Practice Meditation & Mindfulness

Mindfulness and meditation can help us control our thoughts and bring calm and peace to our lives. We can learn to see our negative thoughts and start to eliminate them at source. Peaceful Soul meditation 101 here

11. Be Positive & Confident

Be positive about yourself. The more we hold ourself in high regard, the more confidence we have and can take into situations that we may have been previously fearful of. Look at the good things you’ve done, the times you’ve handled situations well. Look out for and learn from the positives. Peaceful Soul guide to being more confident here

12. Acceptance

Accept that there are things that we can control and things that we can’t control. Don’t live in fear of the things that we can’t control, there’s nothing we can do about them anyway.

13. Let Go of The Small Stuff

Accept that you can’t control anything and then let go of the small stuff. There are some things (even most things) in life that just aren’t worth worrying about or being afraid of. 

14. Don’t Stress About Your To Do List

Most people have one, most people never get passed number 3 on it. Writing things down that we know we should be doing puts more stress on us and increases fear that we are not getting things done.  Either get rid of the list completely or concentrate on the top 3 priorities. Things will get done if they need to be done

15. Look After Yourself

Looking after yourself and keeping yourself in optimum condition helps immensely with confidence and cutting out fear. Getting fit and health and having endorphins flowing through your body will enhance your positivity and cut down your worry

16. Cut Out or Cut Down On The Amount of Media You Take In

The media want to get more views, sell more newspapers, advertising space and push their own agenda.. whatever it might be. They look to sensationalise all stories for maximum reach. They will print / view the worst things in society in the very worst light order to get readers. The chances of a lot of these things happening to you are pretty much zero. Cut down on it, you don’t need it.

17. Get Professional Help

If you feel that your fear is taking over your life and you can barely leave the house, think about getting professional help. There are plenty of counsellors and trained therapists that can help. A quick google search will find a whole host of people who will be able to help. Ensure that they have the correct accreditations and are experienced in the right area.

18. Fear is a Natural Response

Don’t completely fear fear. There is good fear. When crossing a road, being afraid of being hit by a car is a good fear that keeps us safe. As are a fear of large wild animals, heights, sharp objects etc etc. Accept that there will always be fear in some situations and that is a good thing.

19. Only Feel The Fear When You Need To

When afraid of something coming up in the future, only feel the fear when you are literally about to step into that situation. Feeling it in the run up to the event is pointless and not needed as “it” is not actually happening. 

20. On the Other Side of Fear

Often when we face up to fears, we will feel a huge rush of positive emotion. See fear as a positive thing, a challenge. Go headfirst into (safe) fearful situations and it will help you grow as a person  

21. Investigate It

So you’re scared of xxx and it’s ruining your life. Read up about it, find out as much as you can about it. Understand the subject and how people who are an expert in the area deal with it. Knowledge is power when dealing with fear.

22. Do Something About It

Whatever the cause of your fear, there is something that you will be able to do about it. Read up on it and think about the logical next steps in tackling it. Just by setting out the steps, you will automatically start putting yourself at ease 

23. Build Up Gradually

When you’re ready to do something about it, build up gradually. For example, if you are afraid of public speaking, start with speaking in front of a few close family members of friends. Follow that by small groups of people you don’t know, building up to larger groups and so on

24. No Excuses

Excuses keep us “safe” from doing things and facing our fears. “I don’t have enough money or time”, “They wouldn’t like it if I did that” or “I don’t think it’s really for me.” These excuses keep us in a perpetual cycle of fear as we will never do the things we are fearful of, just remain afraid off them. Stop with the excuses and get out there and do it

25. Failure Will Happen

Being afraid of not succeeding is a self defeating prophecy. If you don’t try in the first place, you have already failed. Failure happens to everyone. Some of the greatest minds have failed over and over until they were successful.. It took Thomas Edison 1000 attempts to make the lightbulb, JK Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers before she found someone willing to take on Harry Potter. Failure will happen, don’t be afraid of it, it is a path to success. At least you tried in the first place. 

26. Speak to Someone Close To You

A problem shared is a problem halved. Never a truer word said. Speak to a close trusted friend, family member or colleague about your fear. They will undoubtedly try to help or at least provide some comfort and words of wisdom.

27. The Worst Case Scenario

What’s the worst thing that could happen in that particular situation or scenario. Is it really that bad? Chances are even the worst case scenario is not all that bad