{"id":105348,"date":"2023-06-10T11:28:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-10T15:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=105348"},"modified":"2023-06-16T13:22:32","modified_gmt":"2023-06-16T17:22:32","slug":"how-to-overcome-your-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-overcome-your-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Overcome Your Fears: 2 Methods to Gain Courage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are your fears holding you back<\/a> in life? What’s the best way to overcome your fears<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether it’s a fear of heights, spiders, or failures, your fears are getting in the way. This is especially true for people making big changes<\/a> in their lives and imagining the worst possible scenarios coming true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn how to overcome your fears<\/a> so you won’t be afraid to move forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Moving Past Fears<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fear is the biggest barrier to changing your circumstances,<\/strong> Dave Hollis says in Built Through Courage<\/em>. Fear paralyzes you, preventing you from fulfilling your purpose<\/a>. This happens because humans have a natural tendency to imagine and fixate on the worst possible future scenarios, which traps you in your fear. For instance, Hollis experienced this when going through his divorce. He was so afraid of losing his family and his sense of identity as a husband that he struggled to prepare himself for single life. The only way to get past these obstacles is to learn how to overcome your fears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: You become increasingly trapped by a fear when you actively try to avoid it, some psychologists suggest. When you avoid a fear, you reinforce the idea that it\u2019s a threat that must be avoided<\/a> and give yourself a psychological reward for that avoidance (the reward being a feeling of relief at not having to deal with your fear). This encourages you to keep avoiding it. However, ignoring a problem doesn\u2019t fix it<\/a>. Often, the problem worsens, increasing your fear and making it harder to achieve your purpose. For Hollis, avoiding his fears didn\u2019t stop the divorce; it only made him feel blindsided whenever he was forced to acknowledge it\u2014for example, when he had to make child custody arrangements. Hollis could only begin healing after overcoming his fears.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hollis recommends the following methods for overcoming fear<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Method #1: Write Down Your Fears<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Writing down your fears is a valuable tool for overcoming them. <\/strong>It\u2019s difficult to address fears because they often reside in the subconscious, Hollis says. Writing these fears down forces them into the conscious mind<\/a> and makes them easier to analyze and overcome. Once these fears are in the conscious mind, you may realize that many of them are less frightening than you thought and that some aren\u2019t frightening at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Write Down Your Fears<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek<\/em><\/a>, agrees that writing down your fears helps you analyze and overcome them, but he recommends a more detailed and structured<\/a> writing process than Hollis. While Hollis suggests just writing a list of your fears, Ferriss recommends answering the following questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n