BYUH counselors and students share the methods they have used in the past to tackle fears
Embracing your fears is one of the many ways you can overcome them, said BYUH students. Three distinct types of fears are described by BYUH counselors and students, along with solutions to overcome them.
Fear of Socializing (Social Anxiety)
Kaeokalei Alo, a clinical counselor at BYUH, said four main pillars significantly affect mental health: sleep, diet, exercise and social connections. He said we should watch how much sleep we are getting, what we ingest, whether we are active enough and if we are making good connections with people.
Alo said we should aim to get good quality sleep consistently because sleep can strongly affect our mood. He said we need to make sure our mind and body are getting the rest they deserve to function properly.
Alo added our diet is also important to our mental health. He continued, “We need to make sure our diet includes protein, which can be very helpful for sustaining a good mood and good energy.” He said he knew many students generally rely on caffeine in the form of energy drinks to give them energy. As a reminder, Alo said energy drinks can make you feel jittery which is pretty close to having anxiety.
Alo said exercise can affect your mood as well. He said staying active through various recreational activities can keep you in a good mood. He added when you do more movement exercise, your blood flow gets better, as well as your breathing and oxygen level.
He said social connections can affect your mental health as they can make or break your social anxiety. “It is important to strive for meaningful connection [instead of trying] to be friends with everyone,” said Alo. Connections can start small and you should not expect a meaningful connection right away, he said. Sometimes we think about people’s perceptions about us, and let them get in the way of our ability to make connections, he added. Alo said we should try to not put people in a box and to not expect too much.
Fear of Public Speaking
Daniel Soeung, a freshman from Cambodia majoring in marketing, said the trick to combating his fear of public speaking is to prepare everything to a T. He said this helped to reassure him he had everything he needed to do well at it. He said, “I can feel calmer and more collected if I know I have all the material I need before giving a speech.” He added taking long, steady breaths and lowering his expectations can also indirectly help him to do better.
Soeung said he had always been shy and speaking in public to a room full of people had always been a major struggle he constantly faced. He said he usually tries to have a backup plan or two because many things can go wrong, but having plans B and C in case plan A gets derailed helped him to be more confident in himself.
Soeung said, “I read on the internet that taking long breaths before going up to speak can help you remain focused on the topic and therefore less likely for you to go sidetrack.”
Fear of Heights
Elijah Schmidt, a freshman from Utah majoring in psychology said, having constant exposure to the things that scared him helped him overcome his fear of heights. He would try to go to high places as often as he could until he felt less scared and got used to it.
Schmidt said his fear of heights was just something he was born with. He said the fear would prevent him from climbing trees or hiking uphill. He said, “I decided to face my fear,” advice given by his uncle who's a psychiatrist. He said it completely changed his whole outlook on his fear. He said he was able to see his fear not as something that defines him but rather as an obstacle that can be overcome.
He said he would start signing up for camping trips where he knew he would have to hike up the mountain or climb on trees. The repeated exposure to activities that would otherwise make him anxious or give him panic attacks helped him immensely, he added.
Schmidt said he was slowly getting used to being in high places and would not freak out like he used to anymore. He said, “My palms were not sweating and I was not having a visibly negative reaction anymore.” He added this constant exposure made him realize he was amplifying the problems when in reality it was actually not a big deal.