How Fear Traps You Into Being Someone You Are Not

The fear response is triggered when facing danger. The ‘danger’ could be not measuring up to a desirable or imposed standard, not getting done what you set out to do, not fulfilling your own or other people’s expectations, being seen as less than perfect or failing at something. There is also the ‘danger’ of not fitting in and being noticeably different to the norm. All these fears and anxieties have their origin in you questioning your ability to cope with life’s challenges and people’s responses to your actions.

External messages from the media and authorities are also powerful triggers of anxiety and fear. Believing the world to be a dangerous place creates a pervading sense of powerlessness that undermines your personal power and inner strength in many different ways.

Fear manipulates you into forgetting how strong and competent you really are.

Fear negates your resilience. Feelings of helplessness trick you into believing that you do not have what it takes to tolerate hardship and bounce back from adversity.

Fear narrows your focus to mainly notice problems, damage, hurt or harm.

Fear impairs realistic thinking so the scale and likelihood of potential danger is often overestimated. Unless you live in a war zone, a dangerous neighbourhood, an abusive relationship or have just experienced a significant natural disaster, most commonly assumed dangers are less prevalent or disastrous than imagined.

Avoidance is one of the responses to fear. Self-imposed restrictions on where you go or what you do limit your options and shrink your world.

Fear sabotages creative self-expression. Instead of aiming for your aspirations and dreams you may censor yourself and remain within the safety of your comfort zone.

Fear prevents you from living in the here and now. Worrying what might happen and anticipating dangers and calamities in the future removes your attention from the present, the only place where you can function to the best of your ability. Dwelling on past events instead of focusing in the present also clouds your perception to the realities and opportunities of the now.

Survival emotions such as anger (fight); worry, panic and anxiety (flight); depression and hopelessness (freeze) limit your emotional expression and narrow your emotional range. Negative feelings drag you down and deplete vital life force while positive emotions such as trust in yourself, courage and hope strengthen and nurture you.

Fear cuts you off from the flow of life and universal benevolence you could tap into.

Destabilised by fear you lose your firm grounding in your own power. This diminishes your ability to recognise potential agendas by external sources of fear. As a consequence you become an easier target for manipulation and abuse.

Fear is the result of an ancient physical mechanism involving the adrenals and various other body systems. In cases of real and acute danger this is useful as it alerts you to the need for action. However, the same kind of responses are also triggered by imagined danger. With the lines between real and imagined danger often blurred in modern life, fear in all its forms can become chronic.

Tricking you into believing that you are weak and without inner resources or that a catastrophe is imminent, fear and its allies are some of the most damaging emotions to allow into your life. You have a choice what you do with your fear: stay in its thrall or make the decision not to be pulled into it and question its associated - and usually automatic - thoughts.

There are many different ways to defuse fears. All of them involve feeling it without trying to suppress the feeling or run away from it. Like other emotions, fear follows a bell curve where it rises, peaks and eventually subsides if you stay with it as a witness rather than disappearing into it. When you have weathered the emotional storm and feel calmer, take a good look at your thoughts and the reality of the situation.

Examine your triggers and the beliefs associated with them. What is their origin, do they reflect the truth? What is your fear about? How you see yourself, how other people might think of you, what you are told about the world? What keeps you in a state of fear?

Depending on your situation, devise your own path to freedom. You may decide on ‘gradual exposure’, i.e. approaching a feared situation not at once but in several small increments over a number of days or weeks.

You could also draw a ‘fear ladder’ with your ‘little’ fears at the bottom rungs and the ‘big’ ones on top. Begin addressing the less difficult ones and gradually work your way up. It will show you that you do not have to give in to fear and let it define your life and how you see yourself.

Enlist help and support if you need it, but ultimately no one can do this work for you. Remember, you are much stronger and more resilient than fear will allow you to know.

What role does fear play in your life? What have you found useful in overcoming fears? If you are struggling, what is your difficulty?

Originally posted on PsychCentral 15 January 2018.

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