When your fear arises, pause and reflect on your actual risk. Talk back to your negative thoughts or false beliefs and say for example, “I recognise that some dogs are vicious, but the vast majority of dogs are gentle. It is unlikely I will get bitten.”
Do some research to understand your actual risk versus perceived risk. Recognise that the worse-case scenario is highly unlikely. Begin to re-structure your thoughts to not engage in catastrophic thinking, and start to challenge back to those thoughts.
Many fears are based in false beliefs or catastrophic thinking. When you see a snake, you may immediately have a belief that says it will harm you, and that you will die. Identify these patterns of thinking, and start to question them.
If you don’t have many external support factors in your life, you can still develop skills and attitudes and take actions that will help you become resilient against the stressors that you encounter. There are still things you can do to help yourself.
When we get a clear look at our ways of thinking and feeling, rather than just following their leads unconsciously or semi-consciously, then we respond more consciously and choicefully rather than react on the basis of habit or situational circumstances.
Because mindfulness is about grounding consciousness in the present, the mind is less likely to be captivated by self-generated mental accounts about the past and future, as well as the rumination, regret, anxiety, and other experiences that can dampen the experience of well-being.
You can use mindfulness principles when doing your normal daily activities, like eating, talking to friends, and exercising. When you notice your mind jumping ahead to worries about what you are going to do next, bring your attention back to what’s happening right now.
Mindfulness is about focusing on what is happening right now, rather than replaying things that happened in the past or worrying about what’s going to happen next. It takes a lot of practice to build the mindfulness habit.
Having a sense of purpose and hope for the future such as having personal goals, strong values and connectedness to others will help you manage stress.
Feeling secure about yourself, having a sense of self-worth, and having a clear sense of self-identity so that you step away or create some physical or psychological distance from things that pull you down or give you stress, will help you be more resilient.