What is the opposite of fear?

Fear can be all-consuming. Your body is focused, ready to act when necessary, alert to everything happening around you. Other processes in your body are ‘paused’ for a moment. A lot is happening in your head too. Various thoughts fly through your mind, many of which you’re not even consciously aware of.

It helps to focus on what’s opposite of fear when you’re feeling it. But what is that, exactly?
The opposite of black is white, that’s clear. The opposite of happy is a bit trickier. It could be anger, but also sadness. That already opens up more options.

In the therapy group, we talked about this. What is, for you, the opposite of fear?
From that discussion, words like security, joy, love, and also God’s love, warmth, trust, hope, and courage came up.

It was beautiful to see how each person had their own unique answer to that.

But how can you focus on love or hope when fear is running wild through your body?
To help with that, in the therapy group, we created a symbol of the opposite. A keychain, a card that you keep with your phone or in your wallet with a drawing or text, a pin, a bag charm, you name it.
Something you can physically hold onto when you feel fear coming and that helps remind you of what the opposite of fear is. Something that helps you focus on that.
When you do this, you’ll notice that your fear becomes a little smaller and has a little less power over you.