When To Listen And When To Overcome Fear

When you feel low-level fear-a vague anxiety, concern, or nervousness-your symptoms are likely to become subtle: a slight change in breathing,imperceptible or unnoticed increase in muscle tension in all or parts of yourbody, a knitted brow, nervous mannerisms like biting your lip or clenching your jaw. But when you perceive something as acutely dangerous or threatening, chemical messengers like adrenaline and glucose flood into your bloodstream to energize your muscles and ready you to face, flight or flee from danger. Your mouth may become dry. Your heart beats faster. Your breathing may become rapid and shallow or stop momentarily. Fear is psychologically uncomfortable. It's suppose to be, just as pain is physically uncomfortable-designed to get your "Attention'. So then, how do you know when to listen to fear's counsel and when to push through it?As a general rule, when the danger is physical, let fear guide you to take care and prepare well and choose not to take foolish risks. But when the fear is psychological, as in the fear of embarrassment, shame, rejection, and so forth, that is the time to embrace your courage and push through it. Psychological fears are indirect, subjective, and symbolic. For example, the sky doesn't fall if you forget a speech or sing off-key or fail an exam-there is no risk of physical injury or death. One key to facing your fears is by consciously visualizing "positive" outcomes-to form the pictures you want rather than focusing on the images you fear.