How to Overcome Fear ?

First of all, let’s understand what is “fear” in biology, and whether it’s good or not.
Then we’ll decode how to overcome fear.

 

⦾ What is Fear in Biology❓

~ Fear is directly related to “Amygdala”, the brain’s built-in fear detector. It helps us stay safe by reacting quickly to danger, and this fear response is an important part of human evolution.

When we see, hear, or feel something that might be a threat, the amygdala quickly reacts, often before we even realise what’s happening.

It directly receives information from our senses though “Thalamus”, the part of the brain that first receives sensory information and sends it to other areas for processing, and decides if there is a reason to be afraid.

If it detects danger, it sends a signal to the “Hypothalamus”, another important part of the brain which triggers the “fight-or-flight” reaction. In this response: our heart rate spikes, muscles tighten, and our body prepare to either “face the threat or run away”.

But here, we don’t know if that danger was real or we just assumed.

In this case, “Cortex”, the thinking system and the most important part of the brain in all this process, plays a key role in confirming if that danger was real, not assumed.

How?

Did you notice what I’d mentioned…?

I mentioned that thalamus sends the sensory information to different parts of the brain to process.

So, when it directly sends signal to amygdala very fast because it decides there’s a reason to be afraid, at the same time, it sends signal to our brain’s thinking system “Cortex”, to analyse the information if it’s real.

What’s the result?

After the amygdala quickly gives fear signal, the cortex carefully analyses the situation and confirms whether the fear is real or not.

If it’s real, our fight-or-flight response sustains; but if it’s a false alarm, the cortex can calm the amygdala down, and the fight-or-flight response stops.

💡Example:

If you see a shadow that looks like a snake:

⏩ Response of Amygdala (fast): “Danger! Jump back.”

😌 Response of Cortex (slow): “Wait! It’s just a rope. No need to fear.”

 

So it was the fear in biology.

 

⦾ Fear is good or not❓

As I’ve mentioned that this fight-or-flight response is an important part of human evolution. Why?

Because this evolved fear is a crucial survival mechanism that allows our organisms to detect and respond rapidly to threats by activating amygdala-driven fight-or-flight response, increasing the chances of survival.

Over time, evolution preserved this mechanism because it helped our ancestors to avoid danger and to survive.

Now there’s a subtle nuance between evolved and disguised fear:

When this fear is triggered as protective system, it’s good, it’ evolved.

 

But what if this fear exceeds the threshold of survival mechanism, and starts overwhelming you?

 

Now it’s disguised fear. It’s an alarm for you when the amygdala starts overpowering the cortex, in simple terms, your emotions start overshadowing your thinking power.

And the result is:

• You stop thinking critically.
• Your analytical skill declines.
• You decision-making power drops.
• You fear more and more.
• Your courage dies.
• Your mental resilience weakens.

And finally,
This fear actually ends you in being a cowardice.
You stop yourself from taking daring moves that can actually change your entire life.
This fear hinders you from advancing in life.
And you, yourself, become the killer of your own destiny that could be completely different if you took just one single step towards courage and resisted that fear.

 

So, this fear is not good.

 

⦾ How to Overcome Fear❓

Can you really overcome this fear?

The answer is:

Yes. Yes, you can overcome any fear.

But how?
What should you do to overcome it?

• Nothing.
• Just take a deep breath.
• Stay calm.
• Analyse the situation.
• Let your cortex do its job.
• Try not to decide in rush of emotions.
• Let your emotions be your strength, not weakness.
• First analyse, then decide.
• And be courageous enough to resist that disguised fear.

 

• Don’t let your biology overwhelm you.
• Try to balance your emotions with your critical thinking.

 

And that’s it.