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Abstract

th. It tries to eat you from inside.<h1 id="e2a0">Our brain’s natural response</h1>Fight-or-flight is the brain’s response when you face a stressful situation. It is our mind on high-alert without knowing the real source of threat.It can be any negative emotion which went uncontrolled leads to stress, anxiety, rage, etc.<h1 id="80b3">How to overcome it?</h1>Just ask this question and think of a practical response, “What is the worst that could happen?”It won’t be the end of the world. It might be some unfamiliar situation which you are trying to sustain. Embrace it and move on.Now, thinking on the positive side. I want to be objective here and consider the extreme fearful case, so the less intense ones feel like a game.<h1 id="b8a6">Personal experience</h1>One new fear I faced in college was, “What if I get another F grade? My career will burn, and I will be unemployed”.That’s right, no money, no life, no wife. What the hell, so much overthinking for just an academic course! Education is an essential part of life. You fail, you learn, you rise.Once I got an F grade the first time, I went into depression and overthinking. That’s because I had never received such an evaluation in my life. It was unfamiliar to me, new to me.After overcoming it, I became resilient. Once you develop resilience, you realise it is one of the superpowers a human can have. And if you want to stay reasonable and calm in adversities, laugh at the adverse condition and see what worst they could do to you.Think of it practically. Most of the things you worry about won’t even happen. Stop succumbing to your inner critic. Acknowledge that it’s there ( because of evolution ) and control it with the help of the parasympathetic nervous system, which keeps you CALM and RELAXED. When you are calm, you are open-minded and think of a solution peacefully.<h1 id="1398">Final words</h1>From then on — my first academic so-called “d

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ownfall” — I realised we never know the practical effect of fear if we stay idle.If we can’t know the fear, then we can’t even know its results either. It is that simple.When you do take action despite fear, the stress response will still be there as a response to the threat. It is because you can’t stop mid-way due to inertia. Imagine what would have happened if early men stopped abruptly while running from animals, LOL!It is all in your head.One more thing, your brain will release happiness chemicals after you face your “not-so-lethal” fear. You will need to pay a lot of attention to the positive experience here. Heed it so intently that you remember it forever.Real-life example: like my situation on day 1 of blogging streak, the green “publish” button while writing on Medium generated a feeling of anxiety. You know the one where you think, “What will people think about this article and how will they react?”.Now, fast forward three months from the past. I love to hit the green shit so many times ( resilience, the superpower ) that I am with you on day 97 of my blogging streak.I am building a long-term memory now of all my POSITIVE EXPERIENCES. Combined with three months of experience and positivity that I have, I will act similarly in future also.For any unfamiliar situation, I will calm down and think objectively and practically. The sequence which works — acknowledge, embrace, move on and become RESILIENT!This blog belongs to a series of posts I am publishing in this 100-days streak. Today is day 97. Navigate to the end of the <a href="https://readmedium.com/your-phone-is-a-distraction-only-if-you-want-it-to-be-3ea75dfb081b">article 22</a>, for the references from day 23 onwards. If you would like to read the ones before day 22, here is the <a href="https://readmedium.com/21-90-rule-combined-with-seinfeld-strategy-df9f7457dc11">first one</a> that documents them in the end.~ Sanjeev</article></body>

MENTAL HEALTH

How Curiosity Makes You Fearless

Neuroscience to overcome the unknown

Let’s talk about the unknown fear in your head — the fear which stops you from taking bold and courageous steps. The more you think about it, the more it stresses you. But one simple question will dismantle it.

It starts with how the fear factor builds in your mind. Yeah, man! The stress does vex you.

How does fear develop?

Our brain works according to the familiarity of a situation. It connects everything based on experiences, thoughts, and long-term memory.

When any unknown situation develops, our brain can’t fire any neural pathways because there aren’t any because of zero experience.

It deploys all kinds of defence mechanism to protect our body. Some of the methods are self-doubt, procrastination, and feelings of overwhelm.

Some mechanisms will keep you in the comfort zone. Some will come as a negative emotion and release a lot of adrenaline — the stress hormone.

This defence mechanism comes from the survival instinct of human evolution. History and science to the rescue!

Human evolution

Remember how early men used to run from wild animals? Well, they ran for a long time; they created history and ingrained the survival instinct in our walnut-shaped brain.

Well, now the predator is unknown. It is in your head.

If it doesn’t exist in real life and is not in front of you physically, how can it harm you? It is not like it will blast from your head, sit in front of you and bite you to death. It tries to eat you from inside.

Our brain’s natural response

Fight-or-flight is the brain’s response when you face a stressful situation. It is our mind on high-alert without knowing the real source of threat.

It can be any negative emotion which went uncontrolled leads to stress, anxiety, rage, etc.

How to overcome it?

Just ask this question and think of a practical response, “What is the worst that could happen?”

It won’t be the end of the world. It might be some unfamiliar situation which you are trying to sustain. Embrace it and move on.

Now, thinking on the positive side. I want to be objective here and consider the extreme fearful case, so the less intense ones feel like a game.

Personal experience

One new fear I faced in college was, “What if I get another F grade? My career will burn, and I will be unemployed”.

That’s right, no money, no life, no wife. What the hell, so much overthinking for just an academic course! Education is an essential part of life. You fail, you learn, you rise.

Once I got an F grade the first time, I went into depression and overthinking. That’s because I had never received such an evaluation in my life. It was unfamiliar to me, new to me.

After overcoming it, I became resilient. Once you develop resilience, you realise it is one of the superpowers a human can have. And if you want to stay reasonable and calm in adversities, laugh at the adverse condition and see what worst they could do to you.

Think of it practically. Most of the things you worry about won’t even happen. Stop succumbing to your inner critic. Acknowledge that it’s there ( because of evolution ) and control it with the help of the parasympathetic nervous system, which keeps you CALM and RELAXED. When you are calm, you are open-minded and think of a solution peacefully.

Final words

From then on — my first academic so-called “downfall” — I realised we never know the practical effect of fear if we stay idle.

If we can’t know the fear, then we can’t even know its results either. It is that simple.

When you do take action despite fear, the stress response will still be there as a response to the threat. It is because you can’t stop mid-way due to inertia. Imagine what would have happened if early men stopped abruptly while running from animals, LOL!

It is all in your head.

One more thing, your brain will release happiness chemicals after you face your “not-so-lethal” fear. You will need to pay a lot of attention to the positive experience here. Heed it so intently that you remember it forever.

Real-life example: like my situation on day 1 of blogging streak, the green “publish” button while writing on Medium generated a feeling of anxiety. You know the one where you think, “What will people think about this article and how will they react?”.

Now, fast forward three months from the past. I love to hit the green shit so many times ( resilience, the superpower ) that I am with you on day 97 of my blogging streak.

I am building a long-term memory now of all my POSITIVE EXPERIENCES. Combined with three months of experience and positivity that I have, I will act similarly in future also.

For any unfamiliar situation, I will calm down and think objectively and practically. The sequence which works — acknowledge, embrace, move on and become RESILIENT!

This blog belongs to a series of posts I am publishing in this 100-days streak. Today is day 97. Navigate to the end of the article 22, for the references from day 23 onwards. If you would like to read the ones before day 22, here is the first one that documents them in the end.

~ Sanjeev