The same things we fear also incite feelings of exhilaration and even passion. That’s why people enjoy extreme sports, horror movies, and swimming with sharks on holiday. Try to re-frame your fear in a positive light, and acknowledge the thrill it can offer.
When your body experiences fear, lots of triggers ready your body for a “fight-or-flight” action response. Learn to override this response by counteracting with relaxation techniques. Relaxation tells your body that there is no danger and that you are safe.
Running from fears never improves the way you feel about a fear. Next time you experience a fear, verbally engage the fear, using words that describe your fear and anxiety.
The power to label your emotions is beneficial for self-understanding and emotional intelligence. Engaging with a fear and verbalising your fear has incredible power to help you overcome fears and regulate emotions.
“Exposing yourself to your fear” means doing small steps until you feel no fear. If you’re afraid of dogs, start by looking at a badly drawn doodle of a dog until you feel no fear response. Then, look at a photo of a dog, then a video of a dog and so on, until no fear response exists at each stage.
If you feel anxious when preparing for an exam, take some time to think about what is causing the anxiety because, once you know what is causing it, you will be in a better position to tackle it.
Exam anxiety could be linked to: being generally a bit of worrier, a tendency to be anxious; being poorly prepared; you had a bad experience in a previous exam; you are a perfectionist, and think anything less than top marks is a failure; you are not feeling well or you are on medication.
If you are feeling tense in an exam, stop, put down your pen and relax. Breathe slowly and close your eyes for a few minutes. If it helps, put your head on the desk. Shake your arms. Say something positive and encouraging to yourself.
In an exam, take time to read through all the instructions and questions carefully. Do that at least twice to make sure you get a firm grasp of the questions.
We can be afraid of something because we haven’t been exposed to it very much. “Fear of the unknown” is a commonly-used phrase to describe what people feel to something that’s different. After confronting your false beliefs, you can start to slowly expose yourself to the fear.