Fear Less: How to Overcome Your Fears
Everyone is scared of something. It could be something tangible and simple like spiders, or something as abstract and complex as death.
Having fears is normal. But no matter what you’re afraid of, it’s important to take steps to face them. While it might be easier to flee or even freeze, overcoming your fears can actually feel good.
Dubbed “the courage circuit”, Dr Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist, found that when you muster up courage to confront your fears, a specific circuit in the brain is triggered and dopamine is released. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that tells you something is pleasurable and encourages you to keep doing it. So, while fear can feel overwhelming, the ensuing dopamine reward when you face it shows that in a way, fear is designed to get you moving forward and progress in your life.
Here are three learnings from books that can help you find the strength to overcome your fears. Even if your challenges aren’t as big or terrifying as the ones the authors faced, the lessons you glean from these reads will be valuable when it comes to facing your fears.
1. Look at Things from a Different Perspective
Sometimes, you may feel defeated by a particularly difficult situation and fearful of what’s to come. Falling Down and Getting Up: Discovering Your Inner Resilience and Strength tells us that in the face of adversity, you shouldn’t give up — rather, you should take it as an opportunity to learn.
Author Mark Nepo delves into the universal human experience of facing adversity, setbacks, and struggles, and the profound journey of resilience, renewal, and growth that follows. Drawing from his own life experiences, as well as wisdom from various spiritual traditions and philosophical insights, he offers a compassionate and insightful exploration of how you can navigate life’s challenges with grace and courage.
Nepo also invites you to look at challenges from a different perspective and to take each thing that happens in your stride. This book invites you to take the leap of faith, and look at things differently. While you can choose to let fears overwhelm you, you can also choose to enlarge your sense of things when pain and fear make us small.
Get the book here: Physical Book, eBook, Audiobook
2. Build Your Support Systems
It can feel lonely fighting your personal battles. However, there are always people around you who are ready to provide the support you need. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama is an illuminating memoir that chronicles the former First Lady’s journey from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years in the White House and beyond.
With grace, honesty, and insight, Obama reflects on the challenges and triumphs that have shaped her life and her role as a global advocate for empowerment and social change. She shares how you can build support systems that will help you in overcoming obstacles — not just relying on others, but building your own habits as well.
The book is open and honest about challenges faced and why it’s important to recognise the light you carry within yourself to rise above challenges.
Get the book here: Physical Book, eBook, Audiobook
3. Feel Your Fear and Do It Anyway
Sometimes it may feel like your fears are holding you back and it is difficult to face them. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway by Susan Jeffers is a transformative guide to overcoming fear and embracing personal growth. Jeffers, a renowned psychologist and self-help author, introduces readers to the concept of fear as a natural part of the human experience and explores how it often holds us back from reaching our full potential.
Through insightful anecdotes, practical exercises, and empowering strategies, Jeffers demonstrates how to acknowledge and confront fear head-on, rather than allowing it to control our lives. She encourages readers to shift their mindset from one of avoidance to one of courage and resilience, empowering them to take risks and pursue their goals despite any fears or doubts they may have.
The book’s central message, “feel the fear and do it anyway”, empowers you to break free from limiting beliefs, expand your comfort zones, and create a life filled with purpose, fulfillment, and joy.
Get the book here: Physical Book, eBook
In the face of fear, it’s important to remember that you have the power to overcome its effect. By embracing fear, looking at different perspectives and building support systems, you can embark on a journey of empowerment and growth, emerging stronger and more resilient than ever before.
Take a leap of faith and learn something new through these programmes in March:
