Discovering that we all have one thing or the other that we are all afraid off makes me happy that I am not the only one in the boat. I give up so many valuable things simply because I am afraid. I seek help from various sources to conquer fear and thank God, progress is tremendous.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s statement is helping me a greatly to deal with fear. The statement reads: “Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.” The acronym for fear is, false evidence appearing real; it is quite amazing that this false evidence has its grip around many people worldwide.
The wisdom applies to dealing with fear is to think about the worst thing that could happen and conclude that the world will not come to an end. This attitude is quite helpful in overcoming fear.
A lot of people dread speaking in public. People prefer death compare to standing in front of an audience talking. This is all down to being afraid, why are people afraid of speaking in front of a crowd? They are afraid of saying the wrong thing because no one likes to be laughed at or make fun of, better still, no one want to look stupid in front of other people.
My friend has a speaking engagement and I tell him that I will be present, his face drops and he try to discourage me from attending the event. He is afraid, just like many because he believes any slips and he will be a laughing stock, especially from me. The real question is should it really matter if he becomes a laughingstock or not? Doing what he intends to do should be his focus.
The major reason behind the fear of public speaking and other things is humiliation. Humiliation makes us feel bad; an upcoming speaker walks out of the auditorium while delivering his speech to boost his confidence. Fear grips him, he becomes paralysed and could not figure out how to get back into the room.
Jim Rohn says: “Repetition is the mother of learning.” I will say if being humiliated, laugh at, make fun of will all contribute to the death of fear then it is worth it. I know at some stage in my career, I will have to stand in front of people to give a speech. I learnt that most become nervous when standing in front of people because they stop breathing. If you stop breathing, you become tense and will reflect in your voice straight away. I am practicing how to take a deep breath regularly now even when talking to someone or a few groups.
I am not sure if this statement is 1000 percent true that there are only two natural fears in life. The fear of height and loud noises, if this is the truth, it is nothing but good news. Let fear be your servant, and not your master.