Human has all kinds of fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of losing someone they love, fear of illness, fear of death, fear of uncertainties, fear of life in general. All these lead to anxiety. They make you uneasy, restless, angry, sad. The weird thing is, almost everyone reacts differently to a different kind of fear.
“Fear is not real. The only place that fear can exist is in our thoughts of the future. It is a product of our imagination, causing us to fear things that do not, at present, and may not ever, exist. That is near insanity.” — Will Smith
If you’ve been feeling fear your whole life. You know very well that it is not an enjoyable experience. You create this image that your life is falling apart and it became a habit every time you face some difficult situation. The fear didn’t come to you. You invited the fear because that is the only way you know how to deal with difficulties. And it is working fine for you because you’ve survived until today with this coping mechanism.
What’s the worst-case scenario? Think about it. Imagine the worst thing possible. Then ask yourself, what would you do? Let’s say you are afraid of failing an exam. The worst-case scenario would be retaking the exam or starting the semester all over again. Maybe you might feel ashamed too. Is it the end of the world? No. Are you not able to take the test anymore? No. It’s not that bad, isn’t it? Don’t forget, these are all just your imagination of the worst-case scenario before the exam. 90% of the time it won’t happen unless you really never study anything on the subject and that’s pretty much on you. This may apply the same to most of the things we fear. Maybe some cases are relatively worse than the example given here but it all will be dissolved. One way or another.
I’m not saying the problems will be easy to overcome. You may feel anxious, despair, angry, or even hopeless but that does not mean there is nothing you can do to ease the trouble or at least make yourself feel better. When you feel like shit, it is not just a feeling. It is an alarm, to signal you that changes have to be made now. It is your time to make it better. Face your fear head-on and it will be gone. All that’s left are the problem that we need to deal with and solve it with our patience and whatever we have within.
