Techniques to Overcome Fear

Fear can be a great inhibitor in many people's lives. Fear prevents us from achieving goals, doing new things and living the life we want to live. So how do you overcome something so crippling and common? Perhaps the answer lies in the famous quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt: "So let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."

Address Your Fear

• Fear is, in a lot of instances, the root of apathy. Some of your fears may be so internalized that you no longer recognize them as fear, but rather things that you just simply will not try. The first step in overcoming fear is to know what you fear and to know that you no longer want to be afraid. Address your fear and you're on your way to overcoming it.

Understand Your Fear

• Try to understand why you fear what you fear, or where that fear came from. Are you afraid of clowns because of a bad circus experience as a kid? Do you fear heights from a childhood rooftop fall? Afraid of changing jobs because of a fear of new people? Come to terms with why you have a particular fear.

Overcome Your Fear

• An Intj, author of the blog "Personal Development," believes that fear "is the result of uncertainty about a situation." He insists that fear is a derivative of the unknown. So by thoroughly considering all potential outcomes of a fearful situation, you will be able to weigh the good against the bad, which should result in a balance leaning toward a positive outcome. A lot of fears are impractical, so by thinking critically about them you will be able to see that most fears are easily overcome.