Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or other negative consequence.

A close relative to fear is anxiety, your body’s natural response to a feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come. For example a task for which you are accountable for but unsure you can complete or imagined unpleasant events that may not materialize.

In Your Head

The key to managing your fear and associated anxiety starts with the recognition that the anticipation of a fearful event is all in your head.

You must interpolate the results of  a specific behavior, action or circumstance which may lead to bad outcomes.  Without this belief in potential pain, there is no fear.

What you believe, how you perceive events sometimes is associated with unconscious thought and simply by bringing it to your consciousness, analyzing the risks and impacts you may well realize fear is unwarranted.

In the Moment

Fear can seize you in a flash.  Taking control at that moment, overriding the built-in autonomic responses driven by your sub-conscious, is key to managing fear.

Most often the causes of fear are not pleasant or at least the anticipated results are unpleasant.  Getting an alert from your body provides an opportunity to react

False Alarm

Many cases are false alarms or the perceived impacts are exxagerated and the feelings you have could potentially do you more harm (from stress and anxiety) than the object of your fear.

It is important in these cases to be self aware and consciously avoid over reaction and thus  unecessary unpleasantness.