Don’t let fear shut off your power

Anxiety and fear are really tricky emotions that can throw us off guard. Oddly enough, we think that they keep us safe, but in actuality, they reduce our ability to respond effectively to any actual threat.

Stress—the physical response (increased adrenaline and cortisol)—enables our body to react fast and focused. This is super useful when a car cuts you off on the highway, and you need to swerve and brake. It is less helpful when stress becomes a chronic condition driven by fear and anxious thoughts.

Fear and anxiety are felt in the body. Where and how do you feel it in your body?

You may have had an experience where you felt scared even though it was “irrational.” That’s because your brain and nervous system throughout your body hold far more memories and information than you can consciously process in a moment. You are not crazy for how you feel. There is always a reason, even if it is epigenetics from your ancestors’ trauma.

If you have had the experience of automatically jumping out of the path when you saw a snake, then moments later discovered what you saw was just a stick, you know the experience of having a real feeling in your body and then informing your conscious brain of the actual nature of the threat. Unfortunately, we don’t always stop and reflect on the nature of our fears.

The beautiful opportunity that emerges from better understanding how fear works is we can then consciously disrupt the fearful thoughts/embodied sensation feedback cycle with information that empowers us to live within a different mindset. We can learn and practice mindsets that empower vs. locks us in fear.

Now, if the snake really is a snake and not just a rope, you still get to decide what emotion and mental space you want to respond from. This is your power.