Fear

[leothelioness]

I have fear of a lot of things. Fear of embarrassment, fear of opening up my heart, fear of not living to my full potential, fear of vulnerability, fear of life sometimes.

We all of course have things that we are afraid of, but how do you overcome that fear? Has it been easy or hard for you? How do you cope with it?

 

[broken_one]

I apparently have social anxiety (as of last Thursday lol), and it's cool I guess....I got lots of friends, men and women.....it's just when I think romantically I get really anxious. I basically I have to visualize every flaw of the women I like in order to get over my nervousness to go and talk to them. Works pretty good, imo. The whole "off the pedestal" thing, haha.

I don't trust anyone. I don't think I will ever, or at least for a long time. Very long time.

And I hate looking like a fool. I'd rather not attend than look like a fool. I'm too "manly" sometimes, lol.

 

[127.0.0.1]

I have many, many fears.

I'm OCD, so, I get that a lot.

 

[broken_one]

^totally thought of that movie this past week! haha

I am afraid of heights, too. But that's normal.

 

[Thunder Peel]

When I was younger I was definitely a worrier and I was afraid of many things. With age I grew out of a lot of it and I found that after a while you just get burned out on fear. I reached a point where I decided that I was tired of being afraid and just started taking chances. It felt great and I found that many of things I feared weren't so bad or never actually happened.

Close examination and prayer are certainly helpful too. You've already done a good job of identifying what you're afraid of; now you just have to take the next step of understanding why those things bother you and what you can do about it.

 

[Blank123]

i definitely fear a lot of things, i think the trick is not to feel fear at all but to not allow that fear to control your life. you've got to choose to press on, even if you're terrified.

 

[AdamTheAtheist]

I have overcome fear. Not to say that I am not causious but that is a little different. When I cross the road I look both ways not because I'm afraid of being run over but because I would like to make it to the other side. It seems to me that either way life is just so beautiful and amazing whether or not it is the product of a creator. And whether or not there is a purpose to life other than those that we self-impose. To me it is more beautiful to look out and see all of life coexisting in the struggle without having a purpose. At first this might seem scary and a bit concerning. To think life is random and chaotic. But I do not see it this way. Rather that it is to be lived fully and appreciated without thought of suffering and sacrifice, fear and pain. The eyeglasses I adorn of love allow me to look out on the world not with fear of all of its evils but hope that we might overcome them, if we could all just swallow our pride a bit and admit that we can sometimes be wrong. Being wrong to me is a great experience in that I can grow and learn. To me the mere prospect of another day in this wonderful wonderful world keeps all fears at bay.

 

[127.0.0.1]

^totally thought of that movie this past week! haha

I am afraid of heights, too. But that's normal.

I know, it's sad how much I identify with that character!

 

[He.Loves.You]

If you are a chronic worrier, then your brain chemistry changes over time to be more predisposed to this (and to depression, potentially). Some things you can do that definitely help:
1. Pray, of course.
2. Make sure you are exercising enough. Boosts mood and you have less nervous energy.
3. Especially for women, make sure you don't have a nutritional deficiency. For example, iron, calcium, etc. Even a mild deficiency can make you more on edge and fearful.
4. Stop negative self talk. Every time you start to think something negative about the future, etc. just stop for a moment and pretend that Christ is telling you something positive. Either that, or have a negative self talk jar where you put $1 for every negative self talk moment and donate it to church .
5. Memorize scripture on fear

 

[Autumnleaf]

Fear, False Evidence Appearing Real. Unless a lion is chasing you or a mugger has a gun to your head fear is probably not worth paying much mind to.

I know a guy who died for a few minutes and came back to life in a hospital. He said he saw wonders beyond our imaginations of heaven when he was dead. He said the one thing he would want everyone to know is, 'Don't worry.'

 

[toastface_grillah]

I usually fear being misunderstood, excluded, being pushed away, etc. Three cheers for bad experiences!!!
Overcoming it is a work in progress (by no means over), and prayer helps - unfortunately I don't even remember to pray about it as often as I'd like to. Most times, just jumping right into the situation helps the most. Jump in, communicate clearly, and if I get along well enough with someone, I usually assume rapport. Assume we'll continue to get along. And we have.

 

[GQ Chris]

I hate fear more than I fear it, and so when I fear something, I face it head on until I am no longer afraid. Just like I did with my shyness in the past.

 

[Rhamiel]

fear has hurt me so much
fear of rejection has kept me from asking girls out or putting in job aplications
sounds silly but not getting a call back for an interview makes me feel worthless

i just let fear run my life... sometimes i just feel like i want to die

 

[leothelioness]

^ I know how you feel.

 

[Rhye]

i just let fear run my life... sometimes i just feel like i want to die

Oh no! =(

You can always control fear no matter what.
I learned to control mine. It took me a long time, but I went from feeling like there was an elephant sitting on my chest to actually breathing again.

Prayer has helped with my fears. I put my complete trust into God. He guides me beyond all else. When I listen to Him my fears completely disappear.

 

[ProAntiRevolution]

I think the key to understanding fear is to understand that not all fear is a bad thing. Fear is a biological imperative that helps to keep us alive by assisting us in making good risk taking decisions. It's the good fear that leads us to make sure the water is sufficently deep before we go cliff diving. It's not that all the risk is gone, but there's security in knowing you've taken some basic steps not to leap into risk needlessly. That's that point in life in which you have to realize that even with all the precautions taken you're still going to hurt from time to time, phyiscally and emotionally. But all the good experiences you get from taking those chances are worth the negative ones you'll rack up along the way too. Life is going to give you some licks whether you sit around and constantly worry about it; or if you go through it taking the good, and the bad, without undue caution. You are what you want to be, if other people disagree: fudge 'em.

 

[Stravinsk]

David Joseph Schwartz : Action Cures Fear - PhilosophersNotes

(It's true)

 

[IreneAdler]

I have to push myself. Usually my irrational fears are coping for something deeper so I look for what's going on. But yeah, my main coping mechanism for fear that is not rational (like yeah, not going to play with venomous snakes, etc) is to push myself to do what I'm afraid of.

 

[overit]

I have an irrational fear of growing old. I really do!! It's bad.

 

[Luther073082]

Courage is not the lack of fear, its the determination that something is more important then fear. (I don't know who said that but I've heard that quote)

So it is with getting over fears or past them. Its comming to the determination that doing this or that is more important then fear.

A lot of my social fears I got over because in college I had to do them in order to accomplish what I wanted to do. For example, I helped ease my fear of embarrassment or being in front of people because I had to do speeches and presentations in front of the class for a grade.

Perhaps what you need to do is to give yourself a good enough reason to face your fear.