Overcoming Fear

The absence of fear is not courage. Courage maybe facing our fears. Or we might be referred to as courageous, because we did something that others were afraid to do.

To overcome fear, it's important to first understand what fear is. Fear exists to keep us safe. It's a learned response. A defense mechanism ether from instinct or experiences that we learned from. By understanding it and embracing it we can use it as a instruction to inform our actions, and not control them.

What are things people are afraid of?

1. Fear of the Unknown

2. Fear of Failure

3. Fear of possible events (anxiety)

4. Fear of the work and effort that might be required of us

5. Fear of what others might think or say about us

The list can go on and on. Fear is a primitive human emotion that can help us or harm us. As an individual fear can affect our ability to be happy and enjoy things in our life. It can also cripple and paralyze us in the moment where we might otherwise need to take action. That action might be life saving, or a simple as picking up a phone to call someone.

As a society fear has the ability to lead people to come together and strengthen us to combat what we feared, and it can lead us to make bad decisions that affect not only ourselves but other people's lives.

In martial arts we talk about the need to understand our emotions, and not let our emotions control our actions and behaviors. Fear being one of the most primitive emotions it can leads us to dark places, or it can lead us to great places. It's all in how we handle it.

Here are 5 things you can do to learn to Overcome Fear.

1. Identify what the fear is

2. Problem solve it

3. Recognize excuses

4. Learn from it

5. Visualize your goal

As you read through these 5 steps the first thing that we must gain is knowledge of what somethings is and why it's a problem. This means accepting that it is an issue for you. Recognizing any excuses you're currently making that are not allowing you to accept that it's an issue is important. As you work to solve the problem that is causing you fear you will weed out the excuses that are holding you back and learn from them. You must embrace the work ahead of you to move past the obstacles, and follow through with whatever goal lies ahead of the fear. This is where we visualize our goal that is beyond the fear and follow through. This is where courage beings.

Learning something knew, like martial arts often brings out a fear in individuals when they're asking to perform something difficult or unknown to them. As a kung fu school we work to help identify that fear, work through the fear with knowledge, problem solving, and overcoming the barriers and excuses holding the student back. This process not only helps the student learn from the fear, but also learn how to problem solve and overcome other fears in their life.

What we learn about overcoming fear is one of many lessons that serve us well in all parts of our life.

Use these 5 steps to help overcome a fear in your life.