Fear: paralysis by analysis! From The Pegasus NLP Newsletter There's a huge difference between how young people deal with irrational fear versus how adults do it. Let me clarify. I'm a High Ropes Course instructor and I assist young people and adults enjoy the thrill of climbing, and walking or standing, on poles or trees about 30-60 feet above ground. (To see pictures of High Ropes' activities here.) In all the high activities you are secured with safety ropes which are managed by your instructor on the ground. You cannot fall: High Ropes' activities are safe, the training and testing of Instructors is rigorous, all safety equipment is tested regularly and is designed to be able to support a weight equivalent to that of four racehorses! Irrational FearBut being on top of a 30' pole with nothing to hold on to does evoke fear - irrational fear. People know they are safe yet feel nervous or downright scared and exposed. How is this? Because the fear evoked by the unfamiliar height and exposure bypasses or ignores any attempts to be 'sensible' and rational just as it does in the case of a phobia. Now there is a big differences between how the under-twelves and the over-twenties take part in Ropes' activities. For the most part young people tend to welcome or enjoy irrational fear and the adrenaline it produces. Adults are paralysed by it. Act or FreezeYoung people keep moving - adults paralyse themselves with fear. Young people give most attention to the physical sensations adults pay most attention to their over-activated imagination. These are generalisations hence my saying 'for the most part'. There are lots of exceptions but the principle is what is important. And it provides some pointers for how we adults approach risk in our lives. Because we were all young once and we can re-access and redevelop the 'go for it' attitude we once had. The young people just get on with it. They do not allow the fear to paralyse them. They do feel nervous about the height but they just get on with the activity. Adults know, rationally, that they cannot fall or get hurt. But they are much less able to manage the sensations and thoughts that High Ropes activities involves. Too much thinking - too little action Adults do too much thinking. They take a few steps, then pause and imagine falling. The Trapeze Jump involves climbing up a wobbly pole, standing on the 9 inch top and jumping out to catch a swinging trapeze. Most young people focus on what they are doing and get on with it. Most adults pause near the top, hyperventilate a bit, imagine how awful it will be and climb a bit more. They take ages to get into a standing position. Then they freeze once again sometimes for long minutes and then jump. It seems that as we move away from our youth there is an insidious process of allowing our fears to rule us. Learning to fear excitementHOW we do this is interesting. We adults have learned to fear excitement because of the adrenaline it produces. When we were six years old the build-up to going on holiday or to a party evoked shakiness, dry mouth, a need to visit the toilet, and a churning tummy. And we called the sensations 'excitement'. By our twenties we are labelling these sensations anxiety so we linger and analyse them. And the more we analyse the sensations the stronger we make them until they become so unpleasant that we decide to avoid the activity. Now the activity becomes a new 'no-go' area for us. With passing years more and more no-go areas develop. Our lives are shrinking by the year. We have learned to feel nervous about feeling nervous! We no longer enjoy excitement. Life is becoming a threatening experience. Acting or Thinking? Any unfamiliar activity will produce adrenaline. Because it is unfamiliar it is 'coded' by our emotions as a potential threat and a mini version of the Fight or Flight response is produced which provides us with adrenaline and energy to act quickly and energetically. But
it clouds rational thinking. Because it evolved as a means of taking physical action of fleeing from a physical threat or fighting it. And if we do not take action but engage in irrational and fearful thinking this will produce even more adrenaline. Soon we are scared about feeling excited and, until we do something the internal cycle continues and builds up. As adults what we often do at this stage is avoid. We back off. I don't like this feeling so I will avoid this situation. Now we are developing a no-go area. We could be developing a phobia. More action - less analysis The answer is to ACT a little more and analyse a little less - so you don't get into paralysis by analysis. Too much thinking about the threats simply produces too much adrenaline. Action dissipates both adrenaline and physical tension. It also ensures that we increase our confidence rather than develop no-go areas. Especially if we decide that, for us, 'success' is achieved by trying even if we do not achieve our goal! Decide to become more action-oriented. Do it rather than brood over it. And remain aware that the alternative is hours, days or even months of paralysis by analysis and the stress that goes with that and the way in which this ever-present stress saps vitality, saps the joy of living, and clouds each day. Start noticing areas where you freeze or procrastinate through too much thinking and analysing. Get into the habit of quickly assessing your options then go for it. Take action even if you don't always get things right you'll achieve more, fit more into your life, and boost your confidence and self esteem. (Check out the Anxiety section of our other site) You can subscribe to our free NLP Newsletter here and receive this newsletter every few weeks. © 2000-2008 Reg Connolly - but you can freely pass this newsletter on to friends as long as you do so in its entirety, include this message and link: http://www.nlp-now.co.uk. Please contact us if you would like to reproduce this article in your own newsletter. | 
