We all have fears. Being afraid of something is a natural part of life, but it's important to overcome your fears. If you let fear control your life, then you won't be living life to its fullest. How can we overcome our fears though? Clearly it is extremely difficult to overcome fears, otherwise they wouldn't make us afraid.
Personally, I tend to choose to face my fears head on. This is possibly the most difficult way to overcome fears, but is always extremely rewarding in the end. By facing my fears head on, I not only am confronting what is making me so afraid, I'm also taking back control. I'm choosing to not let something dictate what I can and cannot do. I choose the path that will lead to me feeling stronger and happier.
Just because I tend to choose to face my fears head on, it's not in any way easy. I tend to freak out before hand, and sometimes even almost talk myself out of facing my fears. What helps me to not cower away from what scares me is knowing that I have friends and family there to support me. With the help of others, facing your fears does not seem as terrifying.
Over the years, I've learned that it is so much more difficult to face my fears when I do it alone. I've learned that the strongest people are the ones who know when to ask for help. By asking for help and support, everything becomes so much easier to deal with.
Even though facing fears head on is what I tend do, it's not always the right choice. Sometimes, facing your fear head on is not the easiest, and will not benefit you. It might be better to slowly ease your way into facing what you're afraid of. There have been times that the best thing for me to do is to slowly reintroduce the thing that I'm afraid of into my life, rather than face it in one huge moment.
For the longest time, I have been terrified of spiders. Even when I saw the smallest spider, I would freak out. Before high school, if I even saw a spider, I'd demand for someone near me to kill it or just get it away from me. Clearly this just wasn't the best way to deal with my fear. Slowly throughout high school, I would be more and more okay around spiders because I would remind myself that they couldn't hurt me. Now, I usually don't freak out when I see a spider. I just leave it alone, unless it's in my room. If it's in my room then I take it outside. As much as I try to be okay with spiders, I'll never be okay with one being in my room.
When dealing with spiders, it took me a long time to get to the place where I'm okay to be around them. I've learned that in some cases, it just takes a little longer to face your fear than in other circumstances.
I would like to end this article with one of my favorite inspirational quotes about facing your fears by Eleanor Roosevelt: "You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
