How do you face your fears?

[Extra-Ordinary]

Heights is a pretty bad one for me.
I've had two opportunities to jump from somewhere really high; completely opted-out, didn't care one bit when they told me how fun it was. Oddly enough, I really want to get into rock-climbing. I'm okay with climbing to a great height, I'd also kind of have my own mental safety net since I'd be too scared to allow myself to fall.
Anyway. I don't really see a need to face that one. Nothing I really do *requires* me to be in a high place for any reason so I don't feel like I need to conquer it.
Well, nothing I do RIGHT NOW anyway...

 

[AlbertoDeSanta]

Every time I'm faced with an obstacle in relation to my fears, I say "Fuck it" and move along. It's cowardly, but I've not been bitten by a spider now have I?

 

[Ieyke]

I have no irrational fears.

The only fear I have for my personal safety is high-powered radiation, because it's like the power of a god in its ability to wreck your shit permanently.

I used to work with high-powered radiation. I handled it stoically and with lead/concrete/steel shielding, and eventually got worn down from constantly being on high alert and being super careful of everything I did, so I quit.
Even then, it's not really fear per se, so much as it is supreme wariness.

My other fears are for the happiness and well-being of the people I love. I face those issues either as directly and relentlessly as possible, or philosophically, depending on what I actually have the potential to accomplish.


I dunno. I've sort of suddenly...snapped...several times, and each time I sort of...evolved.
One day I sort of snapped and I stopped feeling fear for myself. Dunno why exactly. Too many frequent encounters with almost certain death in all manner of conceivable forms?
Recently I sort of snapped and stopped giving a damn about awkwardness. THAT I think I understand. I spent 8 years having a SUPER awkward friendship with the person most important to me, so I built up a huge resistance to awkwardness....and then I recently found myself in weekly situations where surreal awkwardness was just pushed to new limits and treated as utterly normal....and so one of those weekly situations I reached a sudden zen-thing where I realized that awkwardness is just people feeling preconceived ways towards various things that don't really matter.
I can now carry on a 4 hour conversation about politics, conspiracy theories, religion, the origin of life, aliens, the plot line to all of the Sonic The Hedgehog games, and the merits and flaws of Marvel VS DC...with several random people (from teenagers to guys twice my age), and an assortment of naked chicks whose names I don't even know....while we're all watching James Bond or Christmas movies. That describes my Wednesday nights for the last 11 weeks.

Once you get over those sort of anxieties of whatever worries you most for your personal safety, and that people should react a certain way to certain situations...I dunno. It all seems to be a bit silly to work yourself up over something for no reason.

It's really basically just the people I love who are the focus of all my remaining concern, and their opinions are the only ones that might phase me enough that awkwardness may have a say.

 

[farscythe]

glass elevators.... seriously just no.. i'll take the stairs thank you (and if they're made of glass too..i guess im screwed)

(so yea. on topic i avoid my fears if possible)

 

[Ultra Man30]

Most of my more monstrous fears can only be defeated in my dreams. In these dreams I am in a sort of semi-lucid state where I can summon things to aid me, but can't control the actual dream or the fear. After I win the ensuing fight, I lose the particular fear in the waking world. It should also be noted that I can actually feel pain in these specific dreams. It turns out that taking a torch to the face isn't exactly pleasant.

 

[FalloutJack]

Well unfortunately, itwould be very hard for me to face mine. Ummm...giant squid. Yeah, there was this nature program about the world's biggest eyeballs (approximately beachball-sized, by the way) about a giant squid and I realized that having one of those come at me in its native environment would largely mean that I'm about to snuff it viciously. It would mean that a large eating machine with no reasoning capacity would be giving me the stare with this unblinking eye before snatching me up as a quick snack and then going off to continue its longstanding rivalry with whales. Very hard to confront that, though, as I am not on the bottom of the ocean.

 

[Karhukonna]

I got a couple of fears. They ain't much, but still, I'll share them with you.

I'm scared of dark, murky water. Or rather, whatever my imagination tells me lives down there. I'm a decent swimmer and I love playing in the water, but if it's your typical lake setting with muddy water, I'm gonna just take a quick dip rather than go around diving and playing.

And how do I deal with this? I don't go into the goddamn dark water, that's how. You can never tell what lies down there. Okay, so the biggest beast we have in our waters is maybe the size of a baby's arm, but I just can't handle the unknown that lies in the dark.

Which brings me to my next fear, the dark. It's not that I can't go out at night or anything like that. I am most afraid of pitch black places. Just so happens that during the winter, there's a lot of pitch black darkness to go around. I deal with this in one of two ways. Either I listen to some kickass tunes on my player with the volume at maximum, or I brandish a weapon. I can't even count the times I've stalked my workplace's dark halls with a heavy pipe in hand. And the random, screeching sounds that echo in the empty darkness don't help.

But alas, I manage.

 

[Bestival]

I haven't and I won't. You'll never ever get me to visit a jungle, or Australia, or nothing! Fears are dumb bastards, and I wont spend any time with them.

 

[Jedoro]

Gradual exposure, and a healthy level of caution.

 

[Shockolate]

How I deal with Arachnophobia has changed.

Instead of flailing away screaming "Don't let it get me" like I used to, now I move into a slight crouch and get really pissed off, like, "If you take one more fucking step near me I will FUCKING KILL YOU!". My fight or flight response changed from flight to fight.

Which is funny because I find it cruel and try not to kill things, except flies and mosquitoes, because fuck those guys. I mean, they eat insects that might otherwise annoy me. I understand and accept thier usefulness.

I JUST WISH THEY WEREN'T SO FUCKING CREEPY! :'C

 

[thesilentman]

Rationalize. Also, I just tell myself that I'll be fine repeatedly. Failing that, I'll calm myself down first, then do whatever I need to do. I'm not really afraid of anything, which is a blessing. I do have things that I feared, but I conquered them pretty quick.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Spiders and snakes were mine.

I'm smart enough to know how to easily handle the snakes in my area now, as well as know their normal behaviours.

Spiders, I used to be afraid of anything that looked even remotely spiderish, but I choose to ignore them now.

 

[The Funslinger]

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.

Sounds like you used a crude form of Systematic Desensitization.

Basically, the patient (you) learns to achieve a state of calm on demand. After discussing the relevant phobia (in this case, your fear of heights) the therapist draws up a hierarchy of phobia. For example:

Videos of height drops, peering out the window of a high building, going up a ladder, standing on top of a sky scraper.

You would then, over many sessions, gradually move through each stage, moving to a calm state while doing so. Basically, you're gradually learning to associate heights with a calm feeling, overcoming your phobia, as calm and fear cannot coexist.

OT: Never really had any fears.

 

[wolf thing]

i do the fear chant from dune, fear is the mind killer fear is the little death...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJsYKhEV6o0

 

[Sirron Kcuch]

Blood, gore and violence drive me literally crazy. One time I snapped at a dissection in High School and began shouting at everyone in the room, for I could not bring myself to open an animal.


And then again, I'm no vegetarian. They're tasty.

 

[Sir Strange Of The House Lycan]

If I'm confronted with something I'm afraid of (Usually it's the dark because I'm a wimp) I stop myself from getting scared by singing or reciting bible verses. Of worthy mentioning is that I'm not a Christian, but the act of trying to remember the verse itself and then recite its entirety keeps my mind busy so I can get through it without thinking too hard.

 

[Not Matt]

My 3 biggest fears are hairdressers, dentists and horses.

Hairdressers: I only approach these creatures when my girlfriend at the time and/or my mother and sister go banananutbutters insane about me having long hair. I then prepare myself for having my hair cut for over a week before I even get an appointment. When the day of cutting comes I walk downtown to the cheapest hairdresser there is and as him/her to be quick. I then bit my teeth together and wait for them to finish and I can go home and put this experience behind me.

Dentists: I freeze in the middle of opening my mail and read the letter. I then go to this appointment and I ask for full them to tranquilize my entire mouth. Which they never f***ing do. I then squirm and makeweird noises til it's over.

Horses: I drop what ever I am doing, make up an excuse and get the f*** away from that 4 legged beast. Scariest animal ever. I have stood face to face with live bears and wolfs but horses scare me more than they ever will (but I love MLP. Ohhh the irony)

 

[Little Woodsman]

I'm afraid of people. In order to conquer this fear, I plan to stride into the nearest city centre and punch one in the snout to establish my superiority.

A most excellent plan!
Be sure to bring a rolled-up newspaper along with you for backup.