Face Your Fears AND KILL IT

It's easy to ignore our fears and hope that they'll just go away. Unfortunately, they rarely do. If you don’t face your fears, they’ll end up controlling you. How do you face them? The most common way to face your fears is through exposure, where you gradually face the thing or situation you’re afraid of. With the right method of thinking, you'll wonder why you weren't doing it sooner!

Realize that you’re not alone.
  There are thousands -- maybe even millions -- of people who are probably afraid of very similar things. For example, more than 50 percent of Americans are afraid of creepy crawlies (snakes, spiders, bugs)! Shaming yourself or feeling embarrassed by your fear won’t help you overcome it, but acknowledging that fear is a normal human emotion can help you find the strength to face yours.

 Make a list of your fears.
  In order to fight your fears, you’ve got to know what scares you. Sit down and draw up a list of things you’re afraid of. What are they? Where do they come from? What are their origins? When do they seem to crop up? When do they seem not so bad? How do they make you feel? Getting away from the fear and away from yourself -- looking at yourself on paper -- will help you be a bit more logical, a bit more objective about your fear.

 Face your thinking.
Now that you've got your brain wrapped around the fear -- you know where it comes from, you have it broken down into steps -- it's time to wrap your brain around, well, your brain. Remember that your fear is just a way of thinking -- one that you can control. Changing your “internal dialogue,” or how you think about a situation, can change how you respond to your fears.