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FACING YOUR FEAR FACTORIT’S POSSIBLE TO MAKE ‘FEAR’ YOUR FRIEND, AND USE IT TO HELP DRIVE AWAY YOUR ANXIETIES, AS JOE ARMSTRONG REVEALS.

Step 4. Get in touch with your inner fears.Some people are afraid of success. Others fear failure. Some fear they’ll never find a soulmate. Others that they’ll never have a really good friend. Some fear losing a friend. Some are afraid of what people say about them. Some fear change. Others fear rejection. What fears do you have?

Step 5. Keep a journal.It’ll help you express your feelings - even those really deep, painful emotions - as well as your fears, and it’ll help ground you. You may find that solutions spontaneously become clear as you write. Re-read each entry and underline any actions you’ve suggested. It might be wise to take advice before action, but even asking for advice is a way of taking action.

fearful situations: what to doBut how do you go about using your fears to your advantage?

Step 1. Acknowledge your fears.You can’t overcome a fear unless you recognise, and admit to, what you feel afraid of.

Step 2. Express your fears.Writing them down is a healthy way of doing this. Or try talking to someone you can trust about a situation you fear. Remember, you’re not the first or only person to have felt like this. And you won’t be the last.

Step 3. Work out an action plan.It might look something like this:

Fear isn’t a bad thing – it can warn you of possible dangers ahead, alert you to the need to protect yourself, and give you time to suss out how to handle a tricky situation.

There’s two kinds of fear. Firstly, we can fear situations, like if we’re being bullied. The second kind of fear is ‘inner’, like when we wonder if there’s something wrong with us which is making us a target for bullies.

IT’S POSSIBLE TO MAKE ‘FEAR’ YOUR FRIEND, AND USE IT TO HELP

does

courage

cancel out fear?

Don’t be fooled into thinking that

courage is the absence of fear.

Courage is about feeling the fear yet

choosing to act regardless... so long

as what you plan on doing is a good

thing: A criminal might feel fear

before committing a crime but in

their case, life would be better

for everyone if they chose

not to act on it.

What I want:

My fear:

I need to:

Deadline:

Action:

I want to stop being bullied.

I’m afraid that if I confront the bully or report them it’ll make matters worse.

Share them with someone I trustRead about bullyingLearn what works and what doesn’tLearn how to be assertiveAsk how others stopped being bullied

Decide when I’ll confront or report the bully, e.g. at the first opportunity today; or a week from now when I’ve read about bullying; or in three weeks time when I’ve learnt how to be more assertive.

Act by your deadline – do not put it off.