![]() ![]() ![]() But after recognising them, I leant into them. Neither of these conditions or fears arising from them mixes well with the rarified air at extreme elevations or the risk of frostbite presented by high altitude mountaineering. This is no doubt due to my Raynaud’s Phenomenon – a circulatory condition which means my fingers and toes get cold even on a warm summers’ day. I’m also fearful of freezing to death or my fingers dropping off. I understand that the fear of being unable to breathe has stuck with me since childhood when my chronic asthma was so bad I was hospitalised. For example, I recognise that suffocation frightens me. I’ve never experienced a fear of heights – something that worries a lot of people. When you face your fears, you can better understand them and put them into perspective. And this could be fear of failure, rejection, the unknown or the fear of success itself (lookout for a deep dive on each of these in a later blog post). Facing fear is confronting but vital to achieving your goals. (As anyone who’s waited ‘til the night before to write a big presentation can testify.) Avoidance only compounds your fear and legitimises it. ![]() The most important thing to recognise about fear is that it won’t disappear if you turn your back on it. The other option is to use these three powerful steps to move out of your comfort zone and embrace your fear in pursuit of your dreams. One option is avoidance and to hold yourself back. It’s only then you’ll experience the triumph, exhilaration and breath-taking beauty (in my case, literally) of the view from the very top. Everest (along with Tenzing Norgay Sherpa) described it best when he said, ‘ It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.’ Because while your instinct may be to steer clear and retreat to safety, you can decide to acknowledge your fear and tackle it head-on. Perhaps Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to summit Mt. But even though the fear response to physical danger is natural and instinctive, (you’re near the summit of Mt Everest, inside the ‘Death Zone’, afraid of suffocation while struggling to breathe due to the lack of oxygen), how you decide to experience and act on that fear is a matter of choice. It’s programmed into our system to protect us from danger, and as our survival mechanism, it’s a powerhouse of emotion. “You can’t completely conquer fear, but you can face, embrace and harness it to your advantage” First, let’s look at fear and why it’s so powerfulįear is a primitive human emotion. With the right tools and motivation, I believe it’s something we’re all able to do. What I have done is face, embrace and harness my fears to my advantage. But the truth is, though I’ve tried to conquer my greatest fears, I’ve learned that it’s not possible to eradicate them. I’m an extreme adventurer who’s constantly pushing the limits. But when it comes to fulfilling our potential and achieving our goals, fear is by far the biggest obstacle holding us back. It could be heights, public speaking, decision making or myriad other worries we battle with daily. Here are 3 powerful steps to overcoming fear and conquering your own Everest.ģ powerful steps to overcoming fear to climb your Everest It’s what we do with our fear that counts. ![]()
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