fearless

Have you ever pushed through a pain barrier and survived? 

Perhaps the most relatable example is when doing exercise, and you feel like every cell in your body is beckoning you to stop. No, you definitely cannot make the final 100 metres because your legs will explode. No chance for the final rep because chances are your arms will buckle, maiming you with that barbell. But, you push past, achieve the goal and wonder what you were so worried about only a few seconds ago.

Fear is our body’s way of protecting itself. It’s only in the mind, a made-up emotion, yet it wreaks so much havoc. In fact, research has shown more than 80% of our fears never actually happen. And yet so many of us are worried about the ‘coulds’, crippled by the ‘what ifs’ and terrorised by what simply is our imagination running wild.

How to be Fearless

1. Be Aware. The first step to conquering fear is to acknowledge the fear and be aware of what you’re fearful about. Observe your feelings of fear and release them out of your sub-conscious into your consciousness. A good time to also remind yourself that a whopping 80% never actually play out.
2. What’s the worst thing that can happen? Have you thought about the absolute worst-case scenario? For example, you get rejected; you fall flat on your face; get booed off the stage; or embarrass yourself. It doesn’t seem so bad, because you’ve already experienced the ‘failure’ in your mind’s eye.
3. Be Prepared. All professionals condition their mind to deal with fear. Yep, there you have it. Everyone feels fear, it’s basically how you respond in light of that fear. Techniques such as positive reframing and affirmations are regularly used to overcome fear.
4. Find your ‘still’ place. Whether it be through deep diaphragmatic breathing, walking around the block or even tapping acupressure points. Learn and practice a technique that works for you, and which instantly relaxes you, reminding you of your calm centre.
5. Relinquish Control. So much fear arises because we want to control a situation, person or thing. But we cannot control outcomes and it’s futile to think we can control other people’s behaviours, or how people react in different situations. Allow yourself to make mistakes because at the end of the day, that’s how we learn and grow. We learn from our failures, but to fail, we need to relinquish control.
6. Remember, it’s a choice. Many of us carry self-doubts that limit our potential. We doubt whether we’re smart enough; whether we’re capable to perform in that new job; if we can keep our lover interested; or whether people will like us. This is when the choice factor comes in. We can either let those self-doubts control our actions, or work through them by improving the things we can change and accepting those we can’t. As deep as the layers of our self-image may go, we are all capable of stripping away the negative ones and replacing them with positive ones. And then we can start working on the most important relationship we’ll ever have – the relationship with ourselves. Attitude is ultimately a choice. In the end, what you do with it is what counts.
7. Neuroplasticity. Or brain plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change throughout life. The human brain has this amazing ability to reorganise itself by forming new connections between brain cells (neurons). Each neuron cell is made up of an axon and dendrite and is linked together by synapses, which permit an electrical or chemical signal to pass through, thus allowing communication. Each time we repeat a thought or action, these synapses grow stronger. In fact, if we continually practice visualisation, our synapses fire so efficiently that the idea, thought, or action that was once too hard becomes an easy routine. This forms the basis of performance coaching. The Visualisation Practice steps I use for clients can be found on page 27 in  Aussie Body Diet.

Being fearless is ultimately about having faith in yourself. See the process as beneficial, whatever the outcome. Moving out of your comfort zone and transcending your fears requires daily discipline and practice. Remember, everyone feels fear and doubts themselves at some point, but if you’re consistently staring down your fears, you’ll master important life situations when it may matter the most. 

The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters. ~Cus D'Amato