Just Dive In, Maldives © notsogoodphotography
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For me, travel is in part about pushing my own boundaries and conquering my fears. It’s about stepping as far outside of my comfort zone as possible. Sure, there’s plenty of opportunity for those situations back home. But everyday experiences in foreign countries are often far more alien, new and unknown to us.
DumbLittleMan.com has a list of six simple ways to conquer your fears.
The very first one:
Use Your Curiosity
Fear is painful when you try to push it away. Don’t resist. Allow the fear to fill your whole body and be completely aware and curious of how it affects you. A funny thing happens when you do this, the fear usually disappears because you’re not afraid of it.
Remember those dreams where you’re being chased by something horrible? Fear is the same way. It’s chasing you, but once you stop running and turn around, it goes up in smoke, because it was an illusion.
Fear, like any emotion, only has power over you if you let it. So don’t. Embrace it while it lasts, then … move on.
I wholeheartedly recommend #6:
Be Present
If you haven’t read the The Power of Now, I suggest you pick it up. It changed my life and is one of the few books that I’ve read multiple times.
Being present simply means being aware of your body. You can focus on your muscles, your breathing or the sounds around you. It all depends, but you know when you’re doing it, because you will feel energized, calm and content.
If it sounds like a bunch of self-help gobbledeegook, so what? Maybe it is. But I’ve personally read it and it changed my life as well.
And if you don’t want to read the book, just be conscious of how easily your thoughts can drift outside of the present, the now. Far too often, we’re thinking ten steps ahead of ourselves. And in a frightening situation, this can be disastrous to the point of inaction.
My recommendation: next time you’re in a situation that scares the bajesus out of you, don’t think before you confront it. Just do it. Ever since I started living my life this way, I’ve realized how many of the things I feared really weren’t that hard at all.