“Why am I afraid almost every day?” “What makes you afraid of the most everyday situations?” These kinds of ideas are part of the concerns of many people who, without really knowing why it happens, notice that fear is an emotion that constantly wears down their quality of life, even in seemingly harmless situations.
Throughout the following lines we will see what the nature of the fear of everything is and what we can do to combat this feeling.
Emotions exist because they fulfill a function, and although sometimes the disadvantages they present outweigh the advantages, these situations are the exception, not the rule.
Fear, specifically, is one of the most powerful emotions we have. Whether we like it or not, its existence conditions our lives sometimes for the better (it helps us avoid dangers) and sometimes for the worse (it helps us look for excuses not to make an effort to improve).
However, there are extreme cases in which this psychological factor becomes everything an obstacle with which we self-sabotage again and again when we propose to leave the comfort zone and start something new that will do us good. Go talk to a person we like, start a university degree, go to the gym, go to the dentist…
On these occasions, a strong feeling of frustration appears and a thought that we cannot get rid of: “why am I afraid and don’t I face my fears?” Among the main causes, we find the following.
1. Traumas
The emotional mark that trauma leaves on us They make us direct our attention towards everything that can hypothetically lead us to live that experience (or a similar one) again. For this reason, many people with trauma find it very easy to enter a state of hypervigilance from which they can completely escape.
2. Lack of self-esteem
Lack of self-confidence contributes to the person experiencing fear of many things, since does not feel prepared to face some areas of life Specifically, those that involve personal relationships are typically a source of fears and insecurities.
3. Situations of mistreatment and abuse
In some cases, the fear is rooted in a relational problem that by definition goes beyond the individual.
****When you suffer attacks from another person or a group of them, the state of hypervigilance appears as a protection mechanism, although at the cost of psychological well-being. Of course, this does not mean that the person suffering from it is to blame for this; quite the opposite.
4. Genetic propensity
We must not forget that the genetic factor also counts. This does not mean that having a certain DNA structure predestines us to be constantly afraid, but it does mean that some sets of genes make us more likely to develop persistent fears.
Signs that you live in fear
Some of the typical characteristics that these people present are the following. All of them are similar to those that appear in most phobias in which there is a specific stimulus that triggers anxiety attacks.
At the beginning of the day, they are already thinking that they will have to go through something that scares them.
2. Feeling physical discomfort of all kinds
Living with constant fear generates physical wear and tear that accumulates day after day: muscle tension, poor sleeping and eating habits etc.
3. Avoidance of normal situations
Many people tend to expose themselves to common everyday contexts with the prospect of things going wrong and something capable of harming them appearing.
What to do to combat this anxiety?
When it comes to taking measures against this discomfort and solving the psychological causes of this fear, you can follow these steps.
1. Practice breathing exercises
Controlling your breathing helps to “tame” the emotional state you are in. That’s why, Adopting the habit of doing controlled breathing exercises can help a lot
2. Expose your fears little by little
Start with situations that scare you a little, and face others that generate more fear in you, following a curve of increasing difficulty. This way you will learn through your experience that there are not many reasons to feel that way in any minimally anxiety-inducing situation.
3. Go to the psychologist
This option should not be ruled out if there is no significant progress with the previous ones. Fortunately, the power of psychotherapy when it comes to offering help to people with fears and anxiety problems is very high, and effectiveness has been demonstrated through the use of various techniques carried out under professional supervision.
