Volume 9 - Issue 4  - Apr 2019

This quote is often reduced to platitudes like: Doing a scary thing every day helps you grow. The magic happens outside your comfort zone.  Maybe, but why? Fear serves a real and important purpose, to keep us from harm. So what’s the scientific case for doing things that scare us?

Fear is a bully. It tells you what to do, and when you obey it, it gains power. But when you acknowledge what fear tells you but do the opposite, you build courage.
We become more or less capable depending on prior experiences. People who have performed well in the past tend to believe the same will hold for the future, and approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to be avoided.

Tim Ferriss in his TED talk: ‘Fear is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn’t do. More often it shows you exactly what you should do. The best and most enjoyable results I’ve had in life have all been from asking a simple question: What’s the worst that can happen?’

In ‘Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway’, Susan Jeffers recommends you think through the outcome that makes you most afraid, so that you can consider how you would deal with it were it to happen. Fear doesn’t ever really go away, nor should it. But confronting it is the way to move forward.

The most effective approach to reduce fear is to systematically expose yourself to the thing that scares you, starting small and building tolerance as you go. “Exposure is the most successful way to deal with phobias, anxiety disorders, and everyday fears,” says neuroscientist Philippe Goldin. “Simply repeatedly exposing ourselves to the thing we’re afraid of, in a positive way, gradually brings down the bodily fear response until it’s gone, or at least manageable.”

The challenge is to work out when to listen to fear, and when to ignore it. The more you listen to fear, the more power you give it. Luckily the opposite is true - the more you face fear down, the more control you have. 

You may have noticed this month's Life Lounge is about singing. Many us have a fear of singing in public but the evidence continues to stack up about its health-giving benefits. Why not come and play with your fears.....