Minimizing Your Fears

[Panic57]

I was wondering if anyone was actively working to combat their phobias? I have a fear of spiders even though I know that they are good for the environment. Without spiders, the world would be over run with insects that I also don't like, I don't fear them but they gross me out. But my mom has almost died a couple times from a brown recluse bite because they're really hard to get rid of once our house has been infested with them. I"m paranoid about putting the laundry basket on the floor or sleeping in my bed because those are the brown recluses favorite spots. I smash every spider i find in my house but if I see one in the garden, I actively try to stare at it at a safe distance to get over my fear. It hasten' really helped over come that fear but I don't know what else I can do. Do you have a fear that your are actively working on?

 

[sidney]

My fear right now is making people jealous or angry at me without me knowing it. I know, my "fear" sounds odd, but lately I have discovered that someone is spreading malicious rumors about me, and I really haven't done anything wrong to that person. That person is acting out of jealousy towards me, so I fear to be the object of someone else's jealousy, because I noticed that jealous people always act to bring the person that they are jealous of down. So what I do to avoid that is not to be too friendly to strangers. You'll never know if they will be an enemy in the future.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Minimizing my fears? Well, my biggest fear, at the moment, is getting old. I am already old, way past the halfway mark in my life. There are not that many years left to count. True, I have already raised a family and all my children are already grown up and have their own families. Still, I cannot help feeling that life is not just like that. Surely there's more to life than raising a family. I can see the animals doing that all the time. Surely, as a human being, I can do better than animals.

 

[djanx]

The techniques mentioned in "How To Stop Worrying and Start Living". Dale Carnegie came to my rescue when I had a bunch of fears. Even today I have a few but I overcome them by using logically breaking down my fear. What that usually does is that it makes me realize that my fears are irrational or impractical or something of that sort. And once you realize that what you're afraid of can't even happen, you stop worrying about it and actually start living.

 

[Ashley0323]

I actually dont have toooo many fears. Okay so maybe. I have a fear of snakes, which is a fear I will probably never overcome. I am also 22 years old and still afraid of the dark, imagine that. I am working on this though, since I am ashamed to even admit it, and I dont want my kids to be the same way, grown and afraid of the dark.

 

[John Snort]

My fear right now is making people jealous or angry at me without me knowing it

You should be afraid of making people jealous. No matter what one does they'll never make everyone like them. And if something you do, makes someone jealous then at least you know who your real friends are. The only way to counter jealous is with more kindness. Don't ignore the haters, show them kindness there's nothing they hate more than that.

 

[John Snort]

Edit:

My fear right now is making people jealous or angry at me without me knowing it

You shouldn't be afraid of making people jealous. No matter what one does they'll never make everyone like them. And if something you do, makes someone jealous then at least you know who your real friends are. The only way to counter jealousy is with more kindness. Don't ignore the haters, show them kindness there's nothing they hate more than that.

 

[Panic57]

The techniques mentioned in "How To Stop Worrying and Start Living". Dale Carnegie came to my rescue when I had a bunch of fears. Even today I have a few but I overcome them by using logically breaking down my fear. What that usually does is that it makes me realize that my fears are irrational or impractical or something of that sort. And once you realize that what you're afraid of can't even happen, you stop worrying about it and actually start living.

Thanks for mentioning that book, I'll look for it the next time I'm in the library. I agree that it's necessary to use logic to destroy your fears piece by piece. My problem is that my fear isn't completely impractical. My mom has almost died from brown recluse spider bites almost four times now and I've been bitten a couple times where I got a bad infections. I just want to get to a place where that fear isn't impractical and doesn't keep me up at night.

 

[applejoy]

I actually dont have toooo many fears. Okay so maybe. I have a fear of snakes' date=' which is a fear I will probably never overcome. I am also 22 years old and still afraid of the dark, imagine that. I am working on this though, since I am ashamed to even admit it, and I dont want my kids to be the same way, grown and afraid of the dark. [/quote']
My fear of snakes would never go away as well. I still remember that one rainy night when I a snake of about 2 meters long that I saw inside our house. My adrenaline gives me a strength to reach the 5 flight of stairs possible in one jump. I'm not encountering snakes anymore but I can't shake the feeling that they might suddenly go out of a dark and messy corners of the house.

 

[sorrowscall]

I'm writing scary stories to attempt combating my illogical fear of demons. I made the antagonist a demon and everything! As for the creepy porcelain dolls, I've made no attempts to even try not being terrified by them. However, I did try to once. I watched videos and tried to stare at a family's doll collection It went rather horribly.

 

[iArvee]

I've seen videos on YouTube that to combat your fears/phobias, you have to slowly introduce yourself to it. For example, trypophobia, slowly look at holes or something like that. Do it with a friend who's not afraid of it to offer your support. 

 

[explorerX7]

I have a fear of centipedes. Whenever I see them I get agitated. However, I will gather up my wits and go after them to kill them. If I have something that could swat it then that's what I would seek to do, if I have insect spray I would spray it on them or, if not, I will try chlorine bleach or hot water if available. This shows the great lengths I will go to get rid of this insect but meanwhile, I may be doing so, I am very cautious in ensuring that it doesn't get near to me.

 

[lexinonomous]

The biggest phobia I've had was a fear of knives. Although this is a common fear, it was to the point where it was unhealthy. I couldn't so much as grab a knife from someone at the dinner table. I don't know what my fear was exactly, since I've never felt threatened by someone with a knife, but I definitely had a fear. The knife itself would scare me. Even sitting on the side lines, it would strike a nerve with me and I would end up shaking at the hands.


Surprisingly, my fear of knives died down with time. My boyfriend is a professional cook and is constantly using knives around the house and at work. I have a feeling that being with him for the last five years has really helped me get over my fear. Being around knives for as long as I have and as frequent has really helped me get through my phobia. I feel like desensitizing yourself can play a huge role in letting go.

 

[rikka]

I have fears too, but some of these can be selective. I have a selective fear of heights. I can never, ever get on to zip-lines because I fear that the cables will snap. Also, there are times that I am so afraid of escalators in malls that I would rather look for an elevator or a flight of stairs. However, I really, really love to travel by plane. Traveling is life, and it is exciting. I think my way of fighting my selective fear of heights is to travel (by plane of course), and to wear comfy shoes in the mall to avoid escalator mishaps. And of course, I don't look down on the lower floors, as it will exacerbate my fear. I just stare at the tarps on stores and the people dining upstairs.


I am also selectively claustrophobic. I think there isn't such a thing as that, but that is how I describe my situation. I disdain stuffy dressing units, which is why I don't like shopping clothes much. I prefer if the boutique is air-conditioned, so I can try on pieces in peace. I also fear tunnels. If I can have my way, I'd rather travel in open space than in tunnels. I just have that impending feeling of doom when I get inside a tunnel. For this one, I am not sure how I can handle my fear of tunnels. Surprisingly, I am comfortable with CT Scans, like years ago when I had to have a scan. I think my "fear" just stems from the fact that I don't like an area where I can be sure I don't get enough oxygen.

 

[Alex]

I fear the unknown, which is silly in some ways as the whole of life is actually an unknown quantity. We fear what we can't control, even when there is no explanation or reason for it. In some circumstances I have been forced to confront and deal with them and it hasn't been easy, but there was no choice. Not only does it make you stronger, it does help you realize that fear is natural but can be overcome.

 

[rikka]

My fear right now is making people jealous or angry at me without me knowing it. I know, my "fear" sounds odd, but lately I have discovered that someone is spreading malicious rumors about me, and I really haven't done anything wrong to that person. That person is acting out of jealousy towards me, so I fear to be the object of someone else's jealousy, because I noticed that jealous people always act to bring the person that they are jealous of down. So what I do to avoid that is not to be too friendly to strangers. You'll never know if they will be an enemy in the future.

There might come a time when you stop caring about what other people think. If you think that there are others who are jealous of your accomplishments, you can try keeping your accomplishments low-key. Or you can secretly live fabulously like Hannah Montana without other people knowing. Also, do not overshare what you have accomplished so as not to increase your fear of other people getting jealous of you. However, if the malicious rumors about you are going out of hand, you can actually use the law on your side. Gather evidence and witnesses, especially if the rumors are starting to stain your reputation.

 

[sidney]

Edit:


You shouldn't be afraid of making people jealous. No matter what one does they'll never make everyone like them. And if something you do, makes someone jealous then at least you know who your real friends are. The only way to counter jealousy is with more kindness. Don't ignore the haters, show them kindness there's nothing they hate more than that.

True, it's just that this person doesn't seem to want me to be "successful" socially. Like she wants to be seen as better than me so she is looking to reduce me in the eyes of others and is accusing me of all sorts of things to make me look like a bad person.

There might come a time when you stop caring about what other people think. If you think that there are others who are jealous of your accomplishments, you can try keeping your accomplishments low-key. Or you can secretly live fabulously like Hannah Montana without other people knowing. Also, do not overshare what you have accomplished so as not to increase your fear of other people getting jealous of you. However, if the malicious rumors about you are going out of hand, you can actually use the law on your side. Gather evidence and witnesses, especially if the rumors are starting to stain your reputation.

Haha, she is actually jealous of how I am with people, like me being sociable and all. Something about my "swag" makes her feel threatened, even if I'm not a threat. Unfortunately, I am being accused of something "believable", so right now I'm having a hard time convincing people that I'm telling the truth. It's not really that serious to resort to legal action, but it can be quite annoying.

 

[rikka]

True, it's just that this person doesn't seem to want me to be "successful" socially. Like she wants to be seen as better than me so she is looking to reduce me in the eyes of others and is accusing me of all sorts of things to make me look like a bad person.


Haha, she is actually jealous of how I am with people, like me being sociable and all. Something about my "swag" makes her feel threatened, even if I'm not a threat. Unfortunately, I am being accused of something "believable", so right now I'm having a hard time convincing people that I'm telling the truth. It's not really that serious to resort to legal action, but it can be quite annoying.

Ah, it's good that it's not something to have to go to legal action. Well, let her keep being salty. She probably have all the time in the world to dwell in her insecurities. That's her problem, and let her continue making it her problem. As for you, keep being "swag." Being swag is cool and keep being cool. Keep doing the things you love. Continue being sociable. Just continue being yourself. You don't have to explain to other people your side of story because eventually, the other people around you will notice that the other person was just being salty and insecure.

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

I think I may have found an antidote to my fear of growing old. You see, growing old means that things are coming to an end. So, how about starting new things? That should be quite the opposite of things coming to an end. When there are things to look forward to, then the thought of things coming to an end doesn't quite come into the picture. Right?

 

[oportosanto]

That's a great thing right there Aree, after all, the body grows old, but our level of energy many times comes from our enthusiasm, so if we are doing what we love we will never grow old inside and that's what matter the most. Overcoming our fears is building confidence and we do so life will look better.