“Face your fears,” we have heard people say. What does that even mean? I have a fear of heights, so does that mean I sign myself up for skydiving? What if the fear kills me before I have the chance to overcome it?

Fortunately, we should not take the phrase literally. To understand it, we need to dig a little deeper about fear and anxiety, as they are similar only in nature but different in their causes.

Fear is a strong and equally interesting emotion. It can be as real as our brain makes it up to be, to avoid danger of any or all sorts. Fear emerges when our brain senses danger, harm or a painful situation either happening to us or to a fellow human being. It is our body’s defence mechanism to not only warn us, but to also protect us from the potential danger.

For example, you stand on the edge of a high cliff and your mind has all these thoughts to step back from there and move to a safer place. That’s your fear saving you from a potential danger. In this case, that danger is of falling and injuring yourself. An interesting fact about fear is that it got introduced as well as inculcated in humans from learned behaviour. It is generations of learned behaviour that told us to not get too close to the edge of the cliff.

The modern concept of keep doing more has inculcated the fear of failure, the fear of the unknown, the fear of not being in control and many other kinds of fears. To overcome them, we need to explore them

From caveman to modern men, fear evolved with time. Cavemen feared predators like lions and wolves. They might have feared natural disasters as they did not have sufficient means to keep themselves safe. Modern man has complex fears now. Safety, privacy, security, success, obsession with control over things that happen to them and many other such fears. From these fears rises anxiety.

Anxiety, in a broad sense, is uneasiness to deal with some ‘fearful’ situation. As it stems from fear, it prepares your body to survive the threatening situation. For example, you have a presentation in two hours, You are well-prepared but you are not confident in your preparation. You have a fear of speaking in front of a room full of people. You feel nervous, because the situation is not in your control. Your brain perceives it as a threat and prepares your body to react to it. That reaction can be of two types, either avoid the situation or face it. Generally, it is known as fight or flight response.

In this fast-paced world, mankind has lost its way to peace. The concept of keep doing more has inculcated certain fears. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of not being in control are the demons modern man has to fight. To understand these fears, we need to explore them more.

Fear of failure

This is a very common fear which many of us go through it at some point in life. Certain notions are attached to this failure. Either the person facing it is a perfectionist, or he/she does not want to hurt other people’s expectations from them. It can also be a result of some previous similar situation.

For example, a student failing in a subject, would have this fear all over again in the next semester or could fear reappearing for the failed subject. In the broader spectrum, fear of failure could also mean the fear of not achieving the goals one sets for themselves.

The question arises how can we overcome it. It would require time and conscious effort to get rid of this fear. The mind-set behind the fear needs to be changed. Rather than thinking ‘What if I fail?’ or ‘What if I don’t end up at my desired job?’, one should focus on the good outcomes. For example, ‘I will pass this exam’ or ‘I will get my dream job’ thinking about the positive outcomes will not only help you overcome that fear, but it will also give you the confidence to make those potential outcomes a reality.

Fear of the unknown

This fear stems from excessive worry about uncertain situations. With the abundance of information in the modern world, the fear of the unknown is growing. People want to be aware of the situation they might face. But you cannot always have all the information about the situation you might face. Often we are blindsided by the adversities of life. They also come under the umbrella of unknown situations. The cause is not in our hands, but the action is.

The best strategy is to approach the fear with calm nerves. Understand no one else was aware of it and you are not alone. Keeping your mind calm will help you solve the situation. With time, you will overcome this fear. Other techniques include practicing mindfulness.

Fear of not being in control

This fear stems from perfectionism. Just like you can’t be aware of some situations, you can’t control everything in life at work or school. When you try to control things that are beyond your control, you get stressed and miserably fail to be productive. At this time, just focus on the things you can control. You can’t control someone’s anger, however, you can control your reaction to it.

There are days when it seems everything is just wild and you are failing at life because you were not able to stop a bad outcome from happening. Your fear gets triggered and you feel scared. At that moment you can think of how you can make it better. That is in your control.

All these fears can be overcome, but, as mentioned earlier, they require conscious effort. Once you overcome these fears, you can rise back stronger, with nothing to fear in sight.

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 10th, 2022