Overcome Fear And Anxiety By Making It Your Only Option

Little changes can have big consequences, leading to a lot of natural anxiety and fear, but by forcing yourself into situations you can’t back out from, you can push through your anxiety and accomplish your goals.

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Brett Kelly suggests by finding a point that’s more difficult to turn back from, you, in effect, have only one direction to continue moving: forward. Even by adding money to a situation, you often force yourself to push through any change or task that’s causing you anxiety.

Brett offers simple examples of how adding value to your problems will force you to complete them:

• “Buy a non-refundable plane ticket to a place you’ve always wanted to go but have no idea how you’ll survive once you get there.”
• “Go to a car rental place and rent a stick-shift (and, for Pete’s sake, get the insurance).”
• “Tell your family that you’re going to make them homemade Gnocchi for dinner and they can beat you senseless with a phone book if you don’t deliver.”

Personally, I always had the desire to learn to drive a manual car. So following Brett’s advise I went looking for a manual transmission car rental. I soon realised having a car for two or three days might be enough to learn how to drive manually, but not enough to be competent — that’s truly where you feel success. So instead I took a larger leap and leased a manual transmission car. Knowing I’d be stuck with the car for three years, learning to drive it was my only option (otherwise it’d be a huge waste of both money and a car). Now, two years later, I’m completely comfortable driving a manual transmission vehicle and am truly surprised by how natural it has become.

Have things you’ve been holding off on, or things you’ve forced yourself into doing? Share them in the comments.

How to Overcome Anxiety by Making it Your Only Option [Bridging the Nerd Gap]