How To Handle Fear

Currently, with the world gripped by the Coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic, fear across the board is at an all-time high.

And trying to handle fear during this moment can be pretty challenging.

With most of the world sheltering in place to mitigate the massive spread of the virus, we are stuck inside our homes feeling helpless. Plus, adding the ongoing barrage of fear-based news of people dying in the thousands from the disease to escalating numbers of people becoming unemployed. Some days it seems like trying to function with all this fear going on can seem downright impossible.

So, if you're like most of us you're probably trying to handle your fear either one of two ways:

• Pushing it away (numb ourselves with a ton of distractions like food, alcohol, binge-watching tv shows endlessly...Though I have to say Tiger King was worth the binge).
• Or Oversharing it (vomit it on everyone by sharing it by constantly posting it all over your social media feed all the time).

Now it may seem like, handling your fear like either of these two ways seems sensible cause it allows you to have some semblance of control. However, handling your fear either of these two ways gives you no control at all.

Why?

Because when we push away or overshare our fear, it results in you putting yourself a far worse situation than what caused it in the first place.

Many studies have found that when fear is pushed away or overshared, it gives it more power. The more power fear has, the scarier it becomes. The scarier the fear gets, the more ownership and control it holds over you. If you continue to give fear power, it will snowball, and the more control it has over you, the cloudier your judgment becomes. Which results in you making the worst ever life decisions.

Yeah, and the last thing you need right now is to let fear be the one who's in the driver's seat of your life. Cuz, it's equivalent to allowing a very intoxicated drunk friend to drive your car, and you know that drive will not end well.

So to handle fear in a way that Empowers you. Where you can make decisions that make your life better, here are some simple steps for empowering how you handle fear instead:

Step #1: Feel The Fear

• The fear you're feeling is indeed a valid one. Allow yourself to be aware of your fears and worries with no judgments.
• Give yourself a moment to acknowledge it and begin to notice the times in your day where it affects you the most.

Step #2: Notice How It's Impacting You

• After you began to feel the fear and notice the times, it affects you the most. Get out either a journal or open up a word document and write out how this fear is impacting you.
• Write out the things you're terrified about and the unknowns questions you have.
• Notice how it's affecting your thoughts and the decisions you're hesitant to make from this fear.

Step #3: Mitigate The Fear

• Now that you have acknowledged the fear and how it's been impacting you. Again get out your journal or word document and write how you can mitigate this fear.
• Write out all the actions you have already done to prepare for handling this fear. For example, maybe you took advantage of the applying for the federal aid, opted into the Fed postponed of student loan payments, or began working on the marketing for your new business.
• Then write out new actions you can start to do to continue mitigating the fear. For example, begin to reach out to potential new customers, connect with old customers, work on updating your business marketing and social media.

By completing all three steps above, you begin to own and control the fear, which empowers you to make the fear your B*tch and have it work for you instead of against you.

Richard Branson says it best when he said:

"It is important not to fear fear, but to harness it - use it as fuel to take your business to the next level. After all, fear is energy."

Try these steps today to for helping you to handle the fear currently affecting us all, so that it empowers you forward to make the right decisions that provide you positive outcomes for the rest of your life.

Wanna get more FREE Girl Boss Empowerment Tips?  

Sign-up here to my Newsletter today. Receive weekly directly to your inbox, Empowerment Tips for helping you Empower Your Business every day.