How to lose the fear of making a fool of yourself: 8 key tips

The fear of making a fool of yourself in front of others can be paralyzing. What can you do to combat it?

Fear is a natural feeling, and it doesn't always play a negative role in our lives. In fact, it can actually protect us from situations that are dangerous to us, or that are considered to be associated with risk. But it can become a problem when the feeling of fear is intense and limiting.

Next we will see how to lose the fear of making a fool of oneself.The perceptions that trigger this thought do not always correspond to reality: we are not exposed to public ridicule at all times.

How to lose the fear of making a fool of yourself in front of others.

Some people who have problems with the fear of being ridiculed by others have developed a disorder known as social phobia.In these cases, the anxiety they suffer is extreme and prevents them from living normally, so they need to see a psychologist to overcome it (fortunately, phobias generally respond very well to treatment, and fade away within a few months if professional help is available). However, in most cases, these "nerves" linked to social interactions do not become psychopathologies, and although going to therapy helps, in situations like this it is not essential to go to therapy and it is enough to adopt certain strategies and habits to gain fluency when socializing.

In this sense, below we will explain how to lose the fear of making a fool of yourself, through a series of simple tips, so that you can strengthen your confidence.

1. Keep in mind that nobody is perfect

If you are able to to put away from your mind the erroneous idea that others are more prepared than you are, you will begin to perform better in any situation.you will begin to perform better in any situation. Just like you, other people also have to go through a learning process, and even then they are not free from making a mistake.

So, what we must do is trust in our abilities and not be afraid of being exposed or criticized by others. Maybe the ones who are wrong are the others, and you have the opportunity to make them see their mistake (always with a cordial but assertive attitude). Or maybe they are right in their criticisms, and you learn from them.

2. Face your traumas

Past traumas represent one of the main sources of insecurity in people. insecurity in people. Many times we are not able to face what hurt us and we live limited by the fear of reliving those circumstances again.

To get rid of this burden, it is necessary to make an exercise of personal recognition and stop in those thoughts that are unpleasant to us. Instead of avoiding, let's carefully review how we can stop these circumstances from affecting our lives. Avoiding total exposure to certain situations only feeds the complexes.

3. Learn to laugh at yourself

Not all things that make us feel uncomfortable have to be a drama. In fact, if instead of being uncomfortable you manage to see your situation as something funny, the unpleasant feeling will begin to dissipate..

By this I do not mean that you go around laughing at everything negative that happens to you, but that if we change the perspective with which we see things, we can experience less discomfort and get a better mood in the face of adversity.

By taking things with a sense of humor, the tension goes down and everyone around you relaxes. With this attitude you will be able to show that you are not a ridiculous person, but someone who knows how to take the tension out of adversity. someone who knows how to take the tension out of thingswhich is a fabulous virtue.

4. Train your confidence

Confidence, like most things, is an attitude that can be trained. The ideal is to find a controlled environment, where you have privacy and can imagine yourself in certain situations.

The idea is that you get to master these scenarios through practice, rehearsing how you will do it when the time comes. when the time comes. It doesn't have to be an important presentation, it can be something from your everyday life. For example, if you plan to speak to the person you like, you can rehearse in your safe place.

This method will work for you to acquire confidence and naturalness before facing a socially complex situation that makes you nervous. You don't have to memorize lines of dialogueYou don't have to memorize lines of dialogue, but to gain fluency and to have several possibilities and your possible actions in each case.

5. Avoid prejudices

Prejudices are generalized thoughts from which the person is not able to evaluate situations beyond a pre-established conception. Moreover, prejudice is characterized by being radical and exaggerated. When we think that we must please everyone in order not to fall into a certain type of pigeonhole, shyness and anxiety take hold of us.

We are afraid of making a fool of ourselves in an attempt to please someone, and this situation can generate a feeling of constant discomfort and uncertainty. You should be aware that you are not obliged to please everyone all the time, and you should not feel bad about it.and you should not feel bad about it.

6. Show yourself vulnerable

Vulnerability does not imply weakness; in fact, if you have the ability to talk about the things that made you feel vulnerable at times, people will feel more confident with you and you will take off the burden of having to look like a perfect version of yourself.

Remember that in general, human beings tend to imitate the attitude of our interlocutors in the social interactions we have on a day-to-day basis.. In the same way that if you show signs of discomfort in a conversation the other person will also feel uncomfortable, if you show confidence in expressing things that show your vulnerabilities or reflect your honesty, the other person will also be more relaxed and transparent with you, less obsessed with social conventions.

7. Set goals

To overcome fears, ideally, start small.. Something that works quite well is to set daily goals and meet them, so that you can record your progress. As you make progress in meeting these goals, you can set more demanding ones.

For example, if you are afraid of making a fool of yourself when talking to others, your goal should be to initiate at least three conversations a day with strangers. Little by little you will see how you will gradually gain confidence in yourself and in your ability to interact with others..

8. Accept yourself

Se trata de la aceptación que debemos tener en nosotros mismos, incluyendo las cosas que nos gustan y las que no nos gustan. En la medida que te veas como un todo, aprenderás a darle valor a cada aspecto de tu persona. Incluso tus defectos forman parte de ti, aprende a vivir con ellos en armonía.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Hofmann SG, Dibartolo PM (2010). Introduction: Toward an Understanding of Social Anxiety Disorder. Social Anxiety.
• Hofmann, S.G.; Smits, J.A. (2008). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for adult anxiety disorders: A meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69(4): pp. 621 - 632.
• Shelton, C.I. (2004). Diagnosis and Management of Anxiety Disorders. The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 104(3 Suppl 1): pp. S2 - S5.
• Stein, M.D.; Murray, B.; Gorman, M.D., Jack, M. (2001). Unmasking social anxiety disorder. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 26(3): pp. 185 - 189.
• Stephan, W.G.; Stephan, C.W. (1985). Intergroup Anxiety. Journal of Social Issues.