How do you face your fears?

[uchytjes]

Most people at least attemt to do it once in their life, whether it be a simple disgust or a full blown phobia, people try to conquer their fears. So I ask, what do you do to conquer your fears and what are your fears that you conquered/have yet to conquer?

Spoiler: my fear

I'm deathly afraid of heights. i am to the point where I just don't climb even a ladder. *side note: its actually pretty ironic considering that i'm 6'5". In order to conquer this fear, I began exposing myself to more and more high places. I have yet to conquer it completely(still won't trust most ladders) but I have improved significantly.

Also, if I have any other fears I generally just learn as much as I can about it and then its not scary anymore.

 

[Nouw]

Remind myself that Ikari Shinji faced his fears...[sub]somewhat.[/sub] Seriously though, I try my best to avoid them. My worst phobia is probably pictures of the deep sea, particularly with prehistoric animals. Typing it out is making me nervous of the ground >.>. Other stuff like spiders? I don't want to look like a wuss around others so I suck it up and 'act cool.' Not a healthy reason, I know, but for now it works.

 

[Rose and Thorn]

I have Agoraphobia, which coincides with my anxiety disorder and panic attacks.

My life can be hell, and I face it by curling up in a ball and crying. Sometimes I use booze.

 

[Angie7F]

I used to just avoid my fears in general.
Now I have learnt to face it, and believe it or not, quite often they are not as scary as they seem, and actually makes you feel great after you realize that you conquered yet another weakness

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I used to be afraid of cockroaches, now I'm just... not.
I didn't have this brave moment where I decided to face off against a cockroach. They just don't bother me anymore. I think I somehow got used to them, or realized that a shoe will solve my problem quickly.
Also I got a cat.

The flying cockroaches though, they still bother me.

 

[Rawne1980]

I'm terrified of Spiders.

I face it by getting my wife/kids to remove any eight legged bastards from my house before they eat me.

 

[NecroNinja]

I face everything that scares me head on. My body literally turns into a barely controllable, shivering wreck when I am on anything high. This year I went to a waterpark in Spain, and one area had three slides, each one being higher and more vertical than the last (I should mention this was on the side of what looked like a small mountain/large hill overlooking Benidorm - it was fucking high!). On my way up, I got the shakes, and struggled to breathe, so I got on the smallest slide. When I got to the bottom, I felt so pathetic. I thought, there can't be any danger, as many others are doing it, and I shouldn't be ruled by fear. Any choices I make should be my own. So I went back up, and the shakes, came back, as did the difficulty breathing. So I took a few seconds to take deep breaths and regulate my breathing, then with a deathgrip on the hand rail, I slowly made my way to the top, with little kids running up past me. I got up, got on to the slide, and just threw myself down it. When I got to the bottom, I felt so accomplished. By no means did I conquer my fear, but I showed myself that I didn't have to give in to it. Showed that many fears are irrational. Next step; sky-dive!

Here's a picture of the offending slide.

I'm also pretty damn scared of spiders. But this is easier to face. I bought a keyring with a real spider corpse in it, so I see it every day. I watch any documentaries I can find of tarantulas and spiders. And everytime there is a spider in my house, I never kill them, instead I capture and release them outside. It used to be that I couldn't even bring myself to look at one, and now I can get right up close. This is simply because exposure is a form of therapy. The more you are exposed to something you fear, the less fearful you become. You fear things because you associate them with danger in some way, so exposure with no negative consequences teaches you over time that there is no danger. So I'd advise facing your fears as much as possible.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I generally don't. It's unhealthy, but I either ignore my fears or circumvent them through any means necessary. For instance, I hate mirrors after sundown, so when I get up to go to the bathroom I just unhook the mirror before I go to bed and stuff it behind the toilet.

 

[Scarim Coral]

I don't (arachnophobia) and trying to show image of spiders right in my face isn't a solution to face my fears! (Some stupid friends from High School did that to me.)

 

[IndomitableSam]

I tend to get angry when I'm really scared, so it kind of balances out. Though I am the type to try most experiences at least once - I don't mind heights, but I absolutely refuse to go belowdecks on boats/ships as I'm convinced the ship will go down and I'll be trapped. Makes for difficult boat rides, sometimes. Usually if it's a moth (spiders I'm ok with, but moths make me literally flail my arms around and make girly noises) I will evenetually settle down, kill the thing and get rid of it because no one else will. My sister's a bigger whimp than I am, so things are usually left up to me. ... Which makes me mad, which gets me over being scared because I have to do it or it'll just stay there, trying to kill me.

... Side note: moths fucking scare me. Always have. Last year I had one fly into my face, slide down my neck and into my cleavage with my dad right there. I jumped up, ran around and did my usual flailing, all the while mewling like a baby and sticking my hands down my shirt and trying to shake it out the bottom. ... The thought still terifies me. I then had to get a wet papertowel and wipe off all the moth dust from my face, neck, boobs and stomach. asdfasdfhawefea.

 

[CAPTCHA]

My biggest fear is of dieing. Somehow I've got to come to terms with the fact that it's going to happen whether I like it or not. I'm not quite there yet, but I'm slowly getting used to the idea.

 

[CommanderL]

There is nothing to fear but fear its self But I face my fears Like I face everything else by hitting them with a mace

 

[Verzin]

denial. Lots and lots of denial.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

I really really don't like spiders. When I see them something inside me breaks and I feel like running as far away as possible. But I am a guy so I can't I am also married and so am the designated spider squisher. Unfortunatly I grew up north in Wisconsin where the largest spiders tended to look like this

Spoiler

They are a few mm in size yet they still freak me out, but with a giant wad of toilet paper I'll get em.

I now live in Florida and the most common one looks like this

Spoiler

They are almost the size of your hand.

The first time I had to squish one I had two girls on top of furniture. I screamed as I squished it with a hard cover harry potter book and watched horrifyingly as the legs curled around the book cover.

So I guess you can say I power through my fears, but I might do it while screaming like a little girl.

 

[Ashadowpie]

i dont know what its called but i have a phobia of needles and basically anything to do with doctors. how do i face my fears? i stay the fuck away from anything that has to do with doctors....yah....i hope i never get seriously ill.

if only they could just knock me out painlessly n do whatever they need to do when im out cold...then it wouldnt be so bad * sigh *

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

Very poorly.

I'm afraid of spiders and heights. For spiders, I just sort of try and tolerate them, especially since I moved to Yorkshire and there seems to be a stupid amount of the little bastards. I can't stop shaking when I see one but I try and turn away and ignore its presence. Doesn't always work.

Heights are more tricky. If I have to be anywhere involving heights I try and make sure I'm there for some reason that leaves pumped full of adrenaline - say, for example I was on a mountain. Scary, yes, but the only reason I'd be there is for snowboarding, so I focus on that and I'm stoked for it, so the fear kind of gets put to one side. If there's nothing to do that though, I just become a gibbering wreck.

 

[Aariana]

My fears: heights, tornadoes, and (the most recent addition) earthquakes >.>

For heights, I generally avoid them to a point. I'm ok if I'm on stairs as long as they have a solid step instead of metal grating. I can deal with other heights if there is a wall in front of me (I can look over it ok, I'm just scared of the thought of falling off)

Tornadoes, I've never had to face it. I lived in northern Alberta for a while, and we had tornado watch warnings, but none ever came in my area. I doubt I'll ever live in another place where that is an issue, however.

As for earthquakes, I'm not dealing with it. I'm living in Vancouver right now, and everyone is freaking out about the quakes that have hit Vancouver Island (oddly enough, Vancouver is NOT on the island for some stupid reason). My boyfriend keeps telling me that they've been expecting a big quake for over 30 years now (thanks, babe...you know exactly what to say to make me feel better >.>). Guess it's my own damn fault (heh) for living in a city near a fault line.