The Best Way to Handle Fear of The Unknown

Fear is an extremely powerful emotion.

There are times in all of our lives when we don’t know what’s coming. We enter into a psychological un-chartered territory of ‘unknown’. This is where many of us are right now, not only individually but also for the first time on a global scale. Most of us are feeling some level of anxiety and fear as we’re continue navigating living through an ongoing World Wide pandemic.

Many of my coaching calls during the last few months have been focused on how we can navigate this ‘unknown.’

‘How can I get rid of the fear?’
‘How can I stop being scared?’
‘What’s going to happen?’

There are many kinds of fear. Our minds cannot distinguish between physical or perceived danger. Therefore, our defense mechanisms kick in and our Amygdala (Lizard Brain) takes over. We freeze in place physically, mentally or emotionally when something happens or we perceive that something might happen.

Your imagination is more scary than fear itself!

Think about it for a moment – It’s not actually fear that we are frightened of! It’s when you let your imagination take over the show…When we allow our imagination to take over we cause more damage to ourselves and others with the things that we think we know – What we imagine to be true is fueled by those stories in our head. We can get consumed with worry and anxiety about what might happen in the future. None of it has happened and very often  although it feels oh so real!

The unknown is just that – unknown!

Constantly running away from the unknown, rather than accepting it, is a way of making yourself afraid.

Fear is not the truth…

It’s there to be felt and experienced – If you allow this to happen it will then pass through you. Instead, most of us just run from it or push it down.

The best way I’ve learned to deal with fear is to face it. If you keep running from it then you become more afraid and you believe those imaginative stories in your head. What you believe then becomes a reality.

Fear thrives in your imagination!

If you can stop right there – be with it feel it and experience it fully in your body, then fear will actually have nothing to sustain it. Fear needs you to resist it and to run away from it to give it any power at all. Instead if you turn and face your fear, fully experience it then it then has nowhere to go. It will begin to dissolve away.

How to handle fear of the unknown…

STOP
BREATHE
ACCEPT what is unknown right now – we just don’t know
MEET the situation rather than run from it
EXPERIENCE your fear – the more you do this, the less intimidating it will be (write a letter to it!)
FEEL it – fully – and it will dissipate

Whenever things get scary or I get frightened I write a letter to my fear. Then I burn it to release my attachment to it. I learned this from Elizabeth Gilbert ❤️

She also suggests that if you are feeling extra fearful then give fear a chance to express itself first and be with it – Allow your fear to write a letter to YOU before you write one back. Take a moment to surrender to your fear and ask it: “What are you actually terrified about, in this situation?” Then listen with respect to your response…

Let fear speak… Even though this may seem scary it will help you to find the real issue – let it pass through you and into the letter. By writing it you are releasing it from your mind and it will dissipate out onto the paper. Then you can thank your fear, let it know that you’ve got it from here…

FEAR is not the truth… It’s NOT the enemy. Fear can show you the way back to your truth if you allow yourself to experience being with it. Our fears are only as powerful as we allow them to be.

Feelings are like clouds moving across the sky – Take a step forward, then another, and those clouds will start to disperse…

Fear of the unknown isn’t dangerous… Teach your mind and body to realize this.

How do you handle your fear?