ACtion Plan

Fear and over coming it is one of the most d iscussed topics in

the pr esent time and on lear ning Deep Water by William
Douglas , I d ecid ed to take the topic “ Fear and How to
over come it”. Ther e ar e innumer able amount of for ums and
gr oups d iscussing about the same . I r ead thr ough some of
them and then pr oceed ed to listen to var ious talks . Of the
many talks I heard , the most inter esting ones wer e two TED
talks , the fir st being “How to 'over come ' fear by Tr evor
Ragan” and then “Why you should d efine your fear s instead
of your goals by Tim Fer iss ”. Another inter esting talk was a
d iscussion about fear between Alexand er Honnold , an
Amer ican r ock climber best known for his fr ee solo ascents
of big walls, and r enowned psychologist Amr ita Golkar at the
Nobel Week Dialogue 2019.
I also have r efer ed some slid es about the topic in fr ee
inter net for ums . Fr om all these I have r eached cer tain
conclusions . Thr ough this pr oject we will be looking at
var ious aspects of fear and the d iffer ent ways of
over coming it.

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Fear

Fear is an emotion ind uced by a per ceived thr eat which

causes entities to quickly pull far away fr om it and usually
hid e. We can also feel fear when faced with less d anger ous
situations like exams, public speaking, a new job or even a
par ty. It is a natur al r esponse to something that a per son
feels is a thr eat.

Fear – Its Symptoms

When you feel fr ightened or ser iously anxious , your mind and
Bod y speed up. Some of the things that might happen ar e:
• Hear t Beat gets ver y fast-mayBe it feels ir egular
• Br eathing gets ver y fast
• M usCles feel weak/sweat mor e
• StomaCh is Chur ning or your Bowels feel loose
• Hard to ConCentr ate on anything else
• Feel d izzy
• Feel fr ozen to the spot
• Can’t eat
• Hot and Cold sweats
• Dr y mouth
• Tense musCles
All these ar e happening BeCause your Bod y is pr epar ing you to
r espond to an emer genCy. It inCr eases the Blood flow to the
musCles, inCr eases your Blood sugar and foCuses your mind on the
thing that’s sCar ing you.

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Common types of fear
According to surveys, some of the most common types of fears are of
demons and ghosts, the existence of evil powers, cockroaches, spiders,
snakes, heights, water, enclosed spaces, tunnels, bridges, needles,
social rejection, flying, heights, failure, examinations and public
speaking.
But we will be looking at more common fears. Some of the most
common types of fear are

Fear of death
Psychologists have addressed the hypothesis that fear of death
motivates religious commitment, and that it may be alleviated by
assurances about an afterlife.
It is a well-known truth that we all in the end will kick the bucket. But
that doesn’t mean that we have death as our worst everyday worry,
because we avoid the thought of it as a neat future occurrence in our
lives.
The fear of death is tightly tied to the fear of the unknown; we don’t
know for sure what will happen to us when we leave this world. In fact,
we are so interested in death that we have even developed whole
cultures and religious beliefs that have tried to give an explanation to
death since the beginning of time.

Death anxiety

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Death anxiety is the morbid, abnormal or persistent fear of one’s
own death or the process of his/her dying. One definition of death
anxiety is a “feeling of dread, apprehension or solicitude (anxiety)
when one thinks of the process of dying, or ceasing to ‘be’. “
Fear of the unknown
The fear of the unknown is easily explained like this: the mind tells us
that in order to move forward, we must know what is waiting for us
there, because “if I know then I can control and if I don’t know then I
am not in control.
Fear of survival
According to Irfan Jamil, coadjutor bishop of Lahore, as the
world constantly changes, the greatest fear is the fear of
survival. The social, economic, spiritual, political and
educational circumstances in life makes survival difficult in
regard to such pressures that can come out of it.
Losing freedom
The fear of losing your freedom has always been present in human
minds because, even though it is not something that we think about
every single moment, it has given us times of deep thought and
wonder at what would happen if we were to lose the power to
control our own lives.
Disappointment
The fear of disappointment is part of the reason we avoid the
unknown, disappointment is that feeling of

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dissatisfaction when our expectations do not match what actually
happened.
Failure
The main fear of failing comes with the disappointment that
follows, that feeling that despite your effort, nothing seemed to
go as you wished it did, and it causes a feeling such that you
might not even want to try again.

Loneliness
The fear of being alone is that dreadful feeling of emptiness
caused by the absence of interaction with another human being.
This fear has also evolved from one of our early survival instincts :
we fear loneliness because it is more likely that we would survive if
we live in group.

OverComing fear

• Face your fear if you can

If you always avoid situations that scare you, you might stop
doing things that you

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 want or need to do and you won’t be able to test out whether
the situation is always bad as you expect.

• Know yourself
Try to learn more about your fear or anxiety. Keep a record
of when it happens and what happens.

• Relax
Learning relaxation techniques can help you with the mental
and physical feelings of fear.

• Exercise
Take more physical exercise. This can trigger brain chemicals
that improve your mood.

• Faith or spirituality
If you are religious or spiritual, this can help you feel
connected to something bigger than yourself. It can provide a
way of coping with everyday stress. Temples, churches,
mosques and other faith groups can be a valuable support
network.

Student RefleCtion
After leArnIng the chApter Deep WAter By WIllIAm DouglAs, I WAs
reAlly InspIreD By the WAy he fAceD hIs feAr of WAter . BeIng A
person Who hAD A lot of feArs As A smAll chIlD , I felt the
sItuAtIons relAtABle Although mAjorIty of my feArs Were not

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due to such a post traumatic fear due to a life threatening situation. I
was able to lose almost every fear I had by facing them knowingly and
unknowingly at various stages of my childhood. His story serves as an
inspiration to all those who couldn’t enjoy their lives due to certain fears
overruling them. By doing this project I am sure I have got some self-
confidence to face my remaining fears and I am sure I can help another
person face their fears too. In short, doing this project has helped me
understand how I faced the situations which I had thought I would
never be able to face.

ConClusion
It’s easy to deny or ignore our fears, even to ourselves , in a strong
society that stresses the importance of being strong and brave, or
among our peers , competitors . But courage can’t come into play
unless you have a fear to face down. By owning your feelings you’ve
taken the first step toward gaining control over the situation. Then
whenever we come to face anything

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we fear, if we have a feeling that we know we fear it
and there is no need for the feeling then we have
gained control over the situation . That sense of
achievement will make us happy and motivate us to
face more of our fears and thus drives us forward
in life.

BiBliography
• NCERT Textbook English – Flamingo
Deep Water - William Douglas
• How to 'overcome' fear | Trevor Ragan |
TEDxCedarRapids
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrWvPo-
KaVs&t=1s)

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• Why you should define your fears instead of your
goals | Tim Ferriss
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J6jAC6XxAI
&t=3s)
• How I Overcame My Fear of Public Speaking |
Danish Dhamani | TEDxKids@SMU
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80UVjkcxGm
A)
• https://reallifecounseling.us/overcome-fear-and-
anxiety
• https://www.psycom.net/facing-your-fear
• https://www.nhsinform.scot/healthy-
living/mental-wellbeing/fears-and-phobias/ten-
ways-to-fight-your-
fears#:~:text=Breathe%20through%20panic&text=St
ay%20where%20you%20are%20and,the%20fear%20o
f%20fear%20away.