The Fear Bubble
I promised to always share useful resources and books in this space, and the one I am sharing today has had a huge impact on my life recently, I definitely will be revisiting it time and time again. Now I know this book was released a while ago but I am someone who buys books way quicker than I can read them! Ant Middleton’s - The Fear Bubble is a must read for anyone who is looking to conquer a fear, manage their intrusive thoughts or channel their anxiety in more productive way.
Throughout the book Ant Middleton talks about “fear” in the truest sense of the word as he describes his experience of navigating war zones or tackling the treacherous climb up Mount Everest. The story throughout is excellently written and incredibly captivating, I couldn’t put this book down. Ant Middleton himself is quite a polarising character, much like marmite you either love him or hate him but I think if you can put any negative opinion you may have aside when reading this book, you will definitely come away with some useful food for thought.
The title of this book “The Fear Bubble,” is taken from a theory that Middleton has used in some of his toughest and most fear inducing moments of his life, now I am certainly no Ant Middleton and my life is no where near as dangerous as his has been but this theory has definitely changed my life already. Where he references “fear” I thought of my own “fear” manifestation - my generalised anxiety disorder and OCD. Anxiety in its most basic form is a “fear” it is a worry of the unknown, it is anticipation, it is your fight or flight response preparing you for something. Now I don’t want to give too much away but this book has really challenged my thought processes. It has got me thinking about how long I allow my worry of what is to come, to get in the way of what I am doing in the now. I encounter situations that make me anxious regularly and often I just take them in my stride, fake it till I make it as they say, but the feeling of anxiousness is always still there, that nervous stomach is still doing it’s thing, my words still get jumbled and my body is still responding to the fight or flight response even if outwardly I am not. A certain amount of fear or anxiety is good for us, it shows that we care, it helps us to get ready, but if we are feeling our “fears” before we even start doing the things we are anxious of we are wasting energy, we are losing focus and ultimately exhausting ourselves on getting ready for the thing we need to be ready for. It doesn’t make sense.
Since reading this book I have created a mental list of questions to ask myself so that each time I start to feel the “fear” aka my good friend anxiety I can challenge whether the “fear” is warranted for right now or needs to be put on hold for a bit longer.
Here are some examples of those questions:
What am I doing right now that is deserving of an anxious response?
Am I safe?
What can I see that is causing this feeling?
What can I hear that is causing this feeling?
Is this a feeling of anxiety or excitement?
What am I getting ready for?
When do I need to be ready by?
Am I prepared for what is to come?
Is the situation I am about to encounter threatening in some way?
We will all encounter situations in our lives that spark a certain amount of fear in us but the fear shouldn’t hold us back. We can harness that fear and use it to keep us moving forward, it doesn’t have to overwhelm you and it doesn’t need to keep you in your comfort zone. If you haven’t already I highly recommend you read The Fear Bubble by Ant Middleton.
