Mastering Your Fear

Over winter break, I read an article by Brandon Webb titled, “How to Master Your Fear Like a Navy Seal.” He began by discussing a situation in combat in which soldiers were literally facing down an enemy in a stressful situation. Of course, while I found it interesting, I figured it only applied to life-threatening or truly terrifying situations. However, as I continued reading, I began to see many applications in my life.

Fear can come in many forms: it can come when faced with a life or death situation or it can come in the form of crippling anxiety, stress, depression, and worry. I find myself ruled by the fear of the latter set of circumstances. The article discusses how to control the inner monologue of our minds to not be ruled by fear but to use it in a positive way. Webb writes, “Whatever it is, you’ll deal with it in its time and place. Meanwhile, don’t let it swim around inside your head!” He also noted that our body language can give away our fear if we let it. In other words, people can smell the fear you are exuding.

This is the second time, recently, that I have heard something similar to this idea that we can mentally flip a switch in our minds and give ourselves a pep talk essentially and deal with our negative thoughts in the moment that we are thinking or feeling them and put them out of our mind. This is something that I know I need to work on to help myself reduce stress levels and not think ahead or worry about things that I do not have control over in that moment. This is way easier said than done, but I am going to be more intentional moving forward about the self-talks I give myself and, as Webb put it, “1) Become aware of it, and 2) redirect it. Flip the switch in your head.”