Fear is one of the basic emotions human beings are born with. It is innate and quite crucial for our survival.
It helps us take the steps to get rid of the life-threatening situations. It makes us protective and facilitates building a sound environment. In other words, the security we try to acquire owes to our fears.
Nevertheless, fear is productive as far as it remains in our control. As soon as it gets control over us, we are doomed.
Have you ever experienced a situation where things were going well until thought of fear stroke your mind and everything changed?
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My academics was something I was always very serious about. All my dreams were related to excelling in education. I have an excellent academic record. Throughout my school life, I remained in the top 6 ranks. I have done my graduation with an A+ grade. I am telling you this all to illustrate how negatively fear can influence our mental and physical abilities.
Here, I would like to share a personal experience that happened to me when I was in class 10. I was giving a regular class test. I couldn’t study sufficiently for the test, but I still could attempt 90% of the answer correctly.
After writing the first few lines, all of a sudden, I forgot the next sentences in the answer. When I couldn’t remind them in a few seconds, a stream of horrible thoughts struck my mind.
“If I can’t remember the answer anymore, I will fail the test. I have never failed in any subject. I haven’t ever obtained less than 70% on any test. Oh! It is the beginning of this year. Will all the subjects seem difficult for me? How can I study any further? Will I get lower grades in the final exams as well? Will I be able to meet the requirements? …….”
The wind swirled around me, and the world went black. I felt like my brain was not working anymore. Anxiety reached its hype.
It was like the memory of a computer being bugged by some virus. I couldn’t write a single word after that. The reason was nothing but the fear. Fear of failure. Fear of losing reputation. Fear of falling down. Fear of being insulted. You name it.
I started shivering. My heart was palpitating. I felt nausea that finally resulted in vomiting. That’s the way my body reacts to extreme stress - nausea followed by vomiting.
The fear did not come out of any danger in front; but it was a product of merely some thoughts. The thoughts are the things that design the world around us. Sometimes, I think we are the slaves of our thoughts. The thoughts become our worst master when they are dominated by the emotions of fear and anxiety.
“Anxiety is nothing but repeatedly re-experiencing failure in advance. What a waste.” – Seth Godin
The test in which I could easily get more than 75% marks with the level of preparation I had, I was only able to score 5%.
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All of us face big or small obstacles in every sphere of life. The obstacles are not real always; sometimes, they are merely an illusion. Fear can be defined as an anticipation of the negative effects produced by real or illusionary obstacles.
We can deal with obstacles if we are not overwhelmed by fear of failure. Sometimes, we go so far in anticipating the negative effects that obstruct our ability to think about things objectively.
It leads us to feel our resources are not enough to deal with the obstacle. The hindrance might be the size of small grain, but fear converts it into a mountain.
If we want to progress in life, we need to learn how to overcome our fears. We can do it by changing our thoughts. The most important thing in dealing with fear is to face it. Instead of giving in and / or hiding from the anticipated storm, stand up and face it. Once you take your first step, you will overcome the obstacle, be it imagined or real.
As Dale Carnegie said
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”
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This is my participation dreem-wotw. The statement I have chosen to write about is The wind swirled around me, and the world went black.
