this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2025
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How do you deal with fear? (hexbear.net)
submitted 5 months ago by GamersOfTheWorld@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net
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Most of the inaction I bear has been due to fear. Fear of reprimand and fear of violence in particular.

I'm reading a lot of lefty stuff (old posts, old articles, hoping I can make my way to books) and it seems like my biggest hurdle to becoming a proper leftist will be removing myself of these fears, if I ever want to do anything productive.

But fuck, fear is just so prevalent in my life. It could be my trauma, my privilege or literally anything else I'm not aware of. Whatever the cause, I don't like it, it's made me a worse person, and I wanna get rid of it.

Seeing as most of you are good about this, I want to hear about how you stopped letting fear and (social/physical) self-preservation control you.

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[–] WhatDoYouMeanPodcast@hexbear.net 4 points 5 months ago

I just think about it like jumping into the cold water of a pool. Like it sucks for a second and if it chronically sucks YOU CAN LEAVE! HIT DA BRICKS!

I also remember that I'm LITERALLY WDYMP and most of the things that come up are going to be things I can deal with. When you jump in and start doing a thing your obstacles become much more corporeal than they are existential. If they're corporeal, you can line em up and knock em down.

If I were better I'd be more like @Awoo@hexbear.net and think it through and metabolize situations into little parts with little plans. So you're not starting a jiu jitsu journey where you expose yourself to the possibility of injury and social difficulties, you're checking the hours -> showing up while they're open -> saying hi -> scheduling a class -> showing up to a class with good hygiene. If a journey comes out of such tiny little steps, great, if not then ball up top.