How do you deal with situations of uncertainty? Only a few are open to new experiences. Most people experience fear when they find themselves in situations whose outcome is unknown in advance. For some, the fear of uncertainty develops to such an extent that it leads to complete passivity. Such people are afraid to take advantage of the opportunities that fate provides them, guided by the logic “they do not seek good from good.” For years they do not dare to try to change their job or address, even if they are seriously dissatisfied with something in their old place. In psychology, a pronounced fear of the unknown is called agnosophobia.
What is fear of the unknown
Fear of the unknown is one of the common fears that haunt a person even in adulthood. Fear of the dark belongs to this phobia, since it is impossible to see what is happening in it. The brain turns on fantasy, and a variety of thoughts come to mind.
People are often frightened by the unknown of the future, which is why the services of clairvoyants and fortune-tellers are so popular. When an individual tries to control everything, he is in an anxious state. The fact is that control is only an action that distracts from anxiety. A clear plan provides motivation for action, but most people prefer to stay at the same level rather than take risks to achieve something greater.
How to overcome the fear of the unknown
How to overcome fear of the unknown
In the early years, a person does not know the feeling of fear. When a child is still very small, crawling on all fours, he is not afraid of anything. Even if the child encounters an obstacle on his way, he confidently avoids it and continues to crawl. At this moment, the child does not pose questions that hinder his movement - “Where to crawl?”, “Why crawl?”, “What awaits me next?” – he just crawls, enjoying the process itself.
While studying in high school, even before entering adulthood, a person also mostly enjoys the process - making new pleasant acquaintances, studying new disciplines, helping younger people. Of course, a person already has a certain level of responsibility when he should study lessons in order to study well and get good grades. However, even then it is extremely clear to the person that there are only two scenarios for the development of events: if the lessons are learned, he will receive a good grade, and if the lessons are not learned, he will receive an unsatisfactory grade. The same is true for studying at university, with the only exception that classes are replaced by exams.
But now the carefree time of study passes, a time when a person, in order to achieve success, had to follow one intended path, when there was no need to make extraordinary and sometimes risky decisions, when a person could completely rely on the help of his parents in solving even the most difficult issue. In other words, real, adult life began. And then suddenly a person is overcome by fear: “What should I do next?” A person begins to fear - what if he now makes the wrong decision, and his whole life, everything that a person has achieved over the years, will collapse overnight. Fear fetters a person’s will, makes him mark time, not understanding his further actions. For a person, everything in adult life is new and unfamiliar, and therefore a person begins to draw pictures of failure in his imagination, when he will lose in a difficult struggle with difficulties, and only because in real life he has not even tried to win. Under the influence of fear of the unknown, a person is confident in his own failure, and therefore often prefers not to take any action at all to achieve success.
The most interesting thing is that, being a passive observer of the course of his own life, a person is afraid not of failure itself, but of the impossibility of determining the further development of events. In other words, it would be much easier for a person to know that he will fail than to be ignorant of the outcome. It is the inability to determine the outcome that is the main source of fear. When a person is afraid to remain in the dark, he is not afraid of the darkness itself, but of the possible threats that may threaten him in the dark.
Fear of the unknown can be caused by any events, the outcome of which a person is not able to predict with certainty, or which a person has not previously had to deal with. A striking example is finding a job after graduating from university. During his studies, a person had a class schedule, according to which he attended lectures and seminars, took notes, in order to successfully pass the exam. After university, a person did not have a schedule of where to move next; he had to assess his abilities and preferences himself, analyze the job market, send out a resume for open vacancies (having previously created this resume), undergo interviews and, if he made a favorable impression on the employer , the man got a job. Of course, each of the listed stages is accompanied by fear of the unknown, because at no stage can a person know exactly what awaits him ahead. Perhaps there are no open vacancies in his specialty in the city, or maybe his resume will be so unattractive that 99% of employers will throw it in the trash without even considering it (sounds cruel, but this is the truth of life, nothing can be done). And of course, the main fear grips a person during an interview, since this stage is the final stage before hiring, and therefore extremely important.
Under the influence of fear of the unknown, a person develops problems with appetite, a feeling of high blood pressure, body temperature rises and trembling begins, the person becomes absent-minded, and sleep disturbances occur. Of course, all these symptoms do not in any way increase a person’s chances of achieving success in any endeavor.
There is also one very important feature that distinguishes fear of the unknown from other types of fear - most of the fears are caused by real external factors that negatively affect a person and make him doubt his own capabilities. Fear of the unknown is most often caused by the results of human imagination. In other words, a person creates his own fears, and then he himself suffers from them. When these fears become too many, a person’s will is suppressed and the person becomes almost completely demoralized - he does not know where to go and what to do in each specific situation. Fear of the unknown, unlike other types of fear, is not based on a person’s life experience, and arises solely from his conjectures and judgments. What’s even worse is that the human consciousness is accustomed to giving everything unknown a negative connotation.
As soon as a person thinks about something unknown, he immediately draws negative pictures of the development of the situation in his own mind. Fear of the unknown is also dangerous because it not only prevents a person from effectively achieving his goals, but is also quite capable of causing the development of the disease.
Alas, modern man is programmed from birth by parents and society to see in the unknown only impending troubles. And only a few of us realize that most of the unknowns that modern people are so afraid of hide a lot of favorable opportunities. There are many examples of opportunity hiding behind the unknown, and there is no need to list all of them. It is enough to give the example of an investigator who faces the unknown every day, trying to solve complex crimes without delay. He could also give up in the face of the unknown, be afraid of the consequences of the wrong decisions he made, not sleep or eat, but he acts differently and continues the investigation no matter what. As a result, if the case is successfully solved, the investigator has a favorable opportunity to fulfill the crime detection plan for the quarter, as well as to be noted on the “Honor Board”.
Many people refuse to achieve their goals only because in order to achieve them they must take a path unknown to them, perform actions that they have not done before, commit actions the result of which is unknown, and therefore they are afraid, afraid of losing what they already have and what reached earlier. It is at the moment of making an important decision that a person should switch from the emotion of fear of the unknown to other, more pleasant emotions. However, sometimes the fear of the unknown is so strong that a person is simply unable to switch - fear simply paralyzes his will.
So, what can a person do to get rid of the feeling of fear of the unknown?
1. Logical analysis of the worst case scenario. When you are afraid of the unknown, you should imagine in detail each of the possible scenarios, and choose the option in which you will suffer the greatest losses. You may ask: “Why, because imagining the worst of the options in your mind will lead to increased fear?” This is not entirely true. In fact, when you clearly understand all possible outcomes, they will no longer be unknown to you, and the fear of the unknown for a given situation will be removed. In addition, most often a person’s fear of the unknown is not really justified, and therefore, knowing about the likely losses when making an important life decision, a person will discover that the consequences are not at all as catastrophic as he imagined, which will allow him to be more decisive, taking responsibility solution.
2. Break your fear down into several parts. It is much easier to overcome a small fear than a significant one. For a better understanding, pick up a broom and try to break it. That does not work? Then untie it and create 10 identical groups of rods. Now break each one in turn. Surely the rods will break easily. This broom is your fear, which you are trying to overcome “in a swoop”, the first time, without even first assessing its scale. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that you constantly fail. Try to divide your fear into several stages and go through them one by one - like in a computer game. So, if you are afraid to jump into the water from a 30-meter height, first cover a distance of 5 meters, then 10, 15, 25 meters. Each time you overcome new heights, your fear will disappear, and you will gain confidence that you can jump into the water from 30 meters. Every person is capable of doing this, but not everyone decides to do it because of fear of the unknown (“What if I crash?!”). Believe me, even the Olympic medalists in ski jumping were also afraid of jumping, but they did not stop at anything on the way to their goal.
3. Take action! A method for the bravest. Convince yourself that your fear of the unknown is nothing more than a defensive reaction to actions you have not taken before, and no matter what, continue to act in the chosen direction. When a person acts in this way, he thereby oversteps his established beliefs in life, which hold him back on the path to success. When a person's behavior goes against his existing principles, it inevitably causes discomfort. Therefore, when a person experiences discomfort, he will determine which belief is holding him back, and can replace the established belief by repeating actions that are opposite to it. Of course, this will require considerable willpower and character, but no one promised you that it would be easy. Step over your fear with confidence! Remember, when you make an important decision or take an action that goes against your beliefs, the longer you hesitate and procrastinate, the more the fear of the unknown consumes you, and the more difficult it is to overcome this fear later. No matter how scared you are, do what you think is right.
4. Urgently work on improving your self-esteem. Fear of the unknown can be overcome easily and confidently when a person believes in his own strength, that he is able to overcome any obstacles, even the most unexpected. To increase your self-confidence, follow these important tips:
- Don't be afraid to take the initiative. If the truth is not on your side, the maximum that threatens you is to be misunderstood by others. However, if your initiative is appropriate, you can get even more than you yourself could expect;
- Don't be overly critical of other people. None of us are perfect, and therefore you need to be more tolerant of other people's shortcomings. If you constantly criticize other people, it means that you admit that you yourself can be the object of criticism from others, which in turn does not have the best effect on your self-esteem;
- In the morning, get up in a cheerful mood, with full confidence that you don’t have any troubles today. If you are used to getting out of bed every morning with a feeling of doom, you will have to work on this. Try meditation techniques, affirmations and visualization. Every time you go to bed at night, tune in to a positive mood - this state will be transferred to you in the morning mood;
— Be more friendly with people, and they will reciprocate you. We live in the society of other people, and whether we like it or not, it is possible to maintain high self-esteem by maintaining connections with other people. Being a cold egoist, concentrating exclusively on his own desires and needs, a person will push other people away from himself, and then there can be no talk of any high self-esteem;
- Be sincere with other people, and, first of all, with yourself. If you think that your opinion deserves to be heard, feel free to say everything you think, both good and bad. If you say only what others want to hear, they will sooner or later realize that you are deceiving them and will stop trusting your opinion;
- Do things that bring you true pleasure. When a person does what he likes, he is more likely to achieve success, and even the smallest success significantly increases a person’s self-esteem;
— Make a list of your past achievements and refer to it often. These may not be significant achievements, but you will be absolutely sure that you did everything in your power to achieve this result. When you read your achievements again, close your eyes and once again feel all the emotions,
5. Analyze the real danger of the unknown. When you are afraid of not knowing what lies ahead, ask yourself: “What am I more afraid of - suffering losses due to a wrong decision or not achieving my own goals due to my own passivity?” If your choice is the second option, then you will be able to overcome your fear of the unknown in order to achieve your desired goal. If you choose the first answer, then you should make considerable efforts to overcome your fear of the unknown. The visualization method is very suitable for this. Close your eyes and mentally move into the future. Imagine yourself making an important decision and achieving success. At the same time, you make sure to carry out the actions for which you fear the most. When you easily and naturally cope with your fear in your thinking, it will be much easier for you to decide to make important decisions in reality. In addition, the successful development of events in a situation that worries you will be recorded on your subconscious level, and you will follow this successful model of behavior.
So, despite all your fears of the unknown, you should take the next step, and let the above recommendations help you with this.
Author: Anton Yasyr for the website therapy.by
Causes
Fear of the unknown overtakes a person when he expects a significant event in life. These could be entrance exams, moving to a new job, or a long trip. Scientists say that the fear of new things is inherent in the body at the genetic level. The ancestors of people who lived on earth millions of years ago could not get rid of anxiety in the dark.
Trust in life
The attitude towards the unknown is the attitude towards life in general. What will happen in a second is not known for certain. But when reading this text, you are not worried and do not seek to control the author and control his thoughts. You trust the unknown of each new line.
Trust in the script of life is trust in the invisible director, if you like - in the principles by which the plot of the play develops. Even if we are not aware of these principles, this should not frighten us, although the unconscious tends to throw up a lot of threats - from the most insignificant to the most fundamental.
Patterns of human behavior
Psychologists know what the fear of the unknown is called. Agnosophobia occurs in response to negative thoughts created by the person himself. If an individual from birth has such traits as anxiety and suspiciousness, then he is inclined to predict a negative outcome of events. Experts have identified 5 behavior patterns of people suffering from this phobia.
Planner
A planner is a person who has plans for the future. He does not tolerate the slightest violation, and any changes cause panic in such an individual. Psychologists recommend that planners sometimes introduce something new into their lives and thereby overcome the fear of the unknown.
Owner
The owner values reliability in everything. He has his own opinion about a successful life and what attributes should correspond to a high standard of living. But you cannot trust stereotypes, since happiness has its own characteristics for each person. It is important to experience new emotions in order to understand what an individual really likes.
Background
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They began to consciously approach the problem of agnosophobia in the 1970s and 80s. Then a group of researchers hypothesized that some of our thoughts, masquerading as ordinary planning, are actually based on cognitive distortions. They confirmed their point of view with a number of experiments.
Two containers with multi-colored spheres were placed in front of several groups of randomly selected people. The first contained an equal number of red and black balls (50 pieces each). The second also had 100 balls, but their color ratio was not stated.
The containers were turned over so that the balls mixed with each other. The subjects' task was to choose one of the containers and place a bet on what color sphere the experiment leader would get.
Those whose bet was successful were given one hundred dollars. If the subject was wrong, he received nothing, but also lost nothing by being excluded from the competition.
Let's count the odds. The first container contains 50 red and 50 black spheres. Therefore, we can calculate the probability of losing and winning mathematically. We don’t know what the ratio is in the second, we can’t calculate the chance of winning - it can be much less or much more than in the first case.
90-95% of subjects (depending on the group) chose the first container. What conclusion did the scientists draw from this? That a person would prefer a small but known result in advance than a risk without any guarantees.
When it comes to life, most people will choose a job with a relatively small, but guaranteed salary, which is paid monthly, stably. Preferring such a job to one that brings in more money, but where the salary is not paid, but only a percentage of sales.
There are quite a lot of such incidents, which seem illogical at first glance. The most famous of them is the “well traveled road effect,” which can be roughly translated into Russian as “the effect of a familiar route.”
There are two ways:
- One is more complex and lengthy, but familiar to us;
- The other one is shorter and more convenient, but we still haven’t walked along it.
If a person follows an unfamiliar path, the road seems more difficult than it actually is.
Symptoms of agnosophobia
Fear of the unknown appears due to the anticipation of any event that worries a person. In this case, the following symptoms are observed:
- loss of appetite;
- fever and chills;
- absent-mindedness.
Fear of the unknown prevents a person from living and working. In severe cases, sleep disturbances and high blood pressure are also noted. Pathological fear of the unknown leads to the fact that a person constantly thinks about the negative outcome of the case.
Treatment
If you understand that agnosophobia has a strong impact on you, and not at all for the better.
That let's say you miss out on a lot of opportunities that come your way. Or, even worse, you have stopped leading such an active social life as before - be sure to seek help from a specialist.
A psychiatrist, if necessary, will prescribe antidepressants if your self-confidence is completely destroyed and there is no mood or desire to live for a long time.
Also medications that will help improve sleep. After all, anxiety often causes insomnia, which affects overall well-being and health.
A psychotherapist will help you explore the causes of your phobia and discover ways that will be effective for you.
How to get rid of the fear of the unknown
Fear of the unknown destroys life, so you need to fight this phobia now. Don’t be afraid to ask a psychologist your question; popular articles will help you understand the causes of anxiety. The famous psychologist Chris Smith created several rules that can normalize your state of mind.
The first rule is called “here and now”. Its essence is to temporarily forget about worries, look around and become aware of what is happening around you. Slowly inhale and exhale the air. Take at least three of these breaks every day.
The important point should be recorded. Notes will help you draw conclusions at the end of the year. Don't neglect your relatives and friends, spend more time with those you care about. Plan your time correctly, learn to use it for the benefit of your work.
Three exercises from Christophe Andre
French psychotherapist Christophe Andre has repeatedly studied fear of the unknown. He came up with exercises that can help you overcome your phobia. The first technique is called “Reporter”, it is aimed at getting used to the changes occurring around a person. In your free time, go to an unfamiliar place in order to explore it and write a short report with photos.
Fear of the future
What are many people in Russia afraid of? Are they truly afraid, to the point of horror, to the point of numbness? The future.
The main fear for the fearful is the future of Russia itself.
Russia is not afraid of war, because its history is full of victories; Russia is not afraid of crisis, because it constantly lives in it; Russia is not afraid of catastrophes and natural disasters, because they happen regularly.
The future is what frightens both the country's elite and its citizens. The future of Russia is frightening in its unexpectedness and unpredictability.
How does the Russian Federation see its future?
In 2021 there will be elections for the President of the country, then the long-awaited World Cup will take place, and in 2021 Russia will complete its rearmament program. That's all - there is nothing more in the future for the image of modern Russia.
What will happen in 2021? It is unknown, maybe Armageddon or manna from heaven will fall from heaven? Anything is possible. What will Russia be like in 2025, 2035, 2050? Unknown. What should Russia expect in 2025, 2035, 2050? Unknown.
The unknown is scary, which gives rise to all sorts of catastrophic forecasts.
If anyone says that there will be a civil war in the United States before 2050, he will be laughed at; but here in Russia a lot of forecasts are published about the near collapse of the country and an armed conflict on its territory, and no one laughs!
Fear of the future forces Russians to look back - to the past: Soviet and Tsarist. The past turns out to be quite acceptable, because that past had a future!
Precisely because Russia does not have an image of a distant future, the Russian Federation does not have a state ideology, and the Russian people, as a state-forming people, do not have their own national idea.
Russia is trying to understand itself, trying to formulate its vision of the future. Russia is on the right path, but fear constrains the will, and therefore Abkhazia, South Ossetia, DPR, LPR and Transnistria have not yet become part of Russia like Crimea.
Fear of the future makes us hope for a new US President who will solve all the issues, but Russia has its own President!
Fear of the future leads to vacillation, for example, on the issue of relations with Turkey: before the Turks shot down our bomber, they were our friends, then they became almost enemies, and now they have again become almost friends and allies. Fear of the future obscures the real successes that the country has: for example, at the end of 2016, Russia turned out to be the main exporter of wheat in the world.
Fear of the future makes some Russians think about emigrating - is this good for the country?
We must not be afraid of our own future, but do it, create it! And for this, you need to make plans for decades ahead and implement them! In chess they say that a bad strategy is better than no strategy. We need to think about the future, about the distant future, and prepare for it, and then it will not be terrible, and then the main fear for Russia will not be its future.
Source
Development anxiety
Anxiety can occur when you lose your usual supports, and new, more subtle ones have not yet been developed.
Steve Pavlina gave a good analogy - a turn in the path. You don't see what's coming next when you turn. When you have already turned, the horizon gradually clears up and the future again seems comfortably predictable.
Any crisis is accompanied by anxiety. This is an indicator of growth. On progressman.ru I talked about this in an article about the inner core.
Examples of specific anxiety
For example, when alone, a person may feel lost and unnecessary. It’s as if he was expelled, and he is forced to wander through a foreign, hostile world. Alone he is too small and weak to withstand life.
Note that anxiety here arises from irrational beliefs. They need to be identified and questioned. Are you really forced to be alone? Is the world really that hostile? Is it really that alien? Are you that weak yourself?
Analysis helps dispel illusions and accept the truth. If a person somehow copes day after day, year after year and continues to live, this confirms that he can rely on his own strength.
The next example is anxiety due to loss of control . You quickly lose faith in yourself due to short-sighted decisions with which there is no internal agreement - those same internal conflicts.
For example, a person was going to work, set high standards, but suddenly, contrary to all plans, he gets drunk: his self-esteem drops and doubts arise about himself. Now he seems to himself: disorganized, weak, incapable. Not at all those who can achieve success, as was believed only yesterday.
Guilt is also a type of anxiety . You are lazy, don’t work, and therefore anticipate a natural decline in the quality of life.
Anxiety arises here because you perceive yourself as an uncontrollable element. It’s as if it’s not you who make the choice, but some separate dark part of your soul. It’s not you yourself who gets drunk and lazy, but someone who possesses you and blocks your will. This is a refusal to take responsibility for yourself and your desires. Such denial of one's desires can lead to a split in personality.
As long as you perceive your own thoughts and feelings as elements, you will be afraid that one day you will let yourself down. Therefore, it is important to realize that you build your life yourself, you choose what you choose - and it is in your hands to make a new choice.
There are cases of anxiety that are completely irrational —this kind of anxiety dissipates almost immediately when it can be calculated. For example, one of my clients uncovered anxiety - and saw that he was prohibiting himself from being happy. It seems like happiness is a shameful betrayal of the entire family. The ancestors lived in difficult times, suffered, therefore, out of solidarity, he also “needed” to bear a heavy cross.
Such negative beliefs can weigh on an alarming background all day long.
In this case, anxiety dissipates when you understand from the depths of your soul that you can be happy in spite of everything.
Notice how important it is to evaluate and question your beliefs. As long as beliefs are expressed in the form of an unclear emotion, you blindly believe in them.
Key 1: Doubt your predictions
Ask yourself: “Are my fears coming true?”
The question must be asked from that part of the soul that is worried. So that it is this self-confident inner predictor who doubts his gift to foresee the future.
When anxiety comes again, feel how you trust your “sixth sense”. Notice how irrational it is to attribute such a premonition to yourself. You need to seriously doubt your prophetic gift.
