Relieve anxiety and fear

In this post, I want to change your perception of fear. What is it exactly? Does fear hold you back? Is it because of fear that you hesitate to open a position, for instance after losing five times in a row? Or, does fear give you energy? And, is it really possible to turn fear into an advantage?

Managing all these extra emotions in your everyday life can be a real challenge. It is often difficult to admit that we are afraid or greedy, so we keep it well hidden because we are ashamed of it. In reality, a trader will become more profitable from the moment he or she starts to manage his or her emotions, whatever they are. Your fears are one of the biggest obstacles to overcome in trading. You should be proud of being able to recognise and overcome them.

Anxiety

Fear and anxiety can affect practically every area of your life: how you feel, how you think, how you behave and how your body reacts. So, let’s start by identifying them.

Can you recognise whether you are feeling fear or anxiety? Both of these emotions produce responses similar to those triggered by certain dangers. But experts believe that there are substantial differences between these two feelings. These differences concern how you react to the various stressors in your surrounding environment.

Without you even noticing, your fear or anxiety can affect the people around you as well. Anxiety is often a response to an unspecified or unknown threat. For example, you might feel anxiety or stress every time you open a trade, making you feel butterflies in your stomach.

These feelings are caused by anxiety, which could lead to difficulty falling asleep, obsessively checking your positions or continually doubting what you are doing, wondering, for example, whether you are using the right strategy.

This anxiety does not derive from a known or specific threat, but rather from potential dangers that you envision in your mind.

Unpleasant feelings often accompany anxiety. Some of the most common physical symptoms are headaches, pain and muscle tension, sleep disorders, stomach pain and nausea.

If you know you are suffering from anxiety, how can you keep it under control? It is about changing your perspective on the situation, because anxiety comes from your mind. In the rest of this post, I will teach you some techniques to help you keep your anxiety under control.

Fear

Fear is one of the worst threats to success and productivity: fear of getting involved, fear of how others will judge you, fear of losing all your money, fear of making strategic decisions, and fear of the unknown.

But what are the causes? Many will say that it is because we do not want to deal with the consequences of our actions. Choices are always risky, so we often end up delegating or simply not taking them at all.

Fear is an emotional reaction to a known and defined threat.

Let’s look at an example. You bought Apple shares, and on the news, you just heard that iPhone production was interrupted (no panic, it is just an example). That could make your Apple shares lose value, and that scares you. The danger seems real, definite and immediate: you expect to lose money.

Although the focus of the response is different (real danger vs imagined), fear and anxiety are interrelated. When fear is triggered, many people experience the physical reactions I described for anxiety.

Fear causes anxiety and anxiety can cause fear. But knowing that there is a distinction between the two feelings can help you understand what is happening, so that you can decide how to deal with them.

The key is to identify whether the threat is real or imaginary. Often in trading, the threat is imagined and leads you to make rash decisions. To take control of the situation, you have to change the perspective from which you approach any situation. But how can you do this?

When you are immersed in anxiety and fear, it is impossible to think clearly. The first thing to do is to distance yourself, so that, from a physical point of view, you can calm down. It is undoubtedly easier said than done when you trade, but if you make a quick decision because you cannot think calmly, you may regret it in the long term.

Five Techniques to Relieve Anxiety

When you feel that stress, anxiety or fear is taking over, follow these techniques to alleviate anxiety (I use them myself). They can help bring your stress back to acceptable levels, helping you to gain a clear mind before you open your trades.

Let’s now look at five techniques that help to relieve anxiety.

1. Get some distance and/or try to meditate. It is impossible to think clearly when a person is crushed by anxiety or fear. The first thing to do is to step back and distance yourself. For example, go and get a glass of water (or another beverage). If you want to try alternative methods instead, try meditation. There are great apps for this purpose, such as Headspace, one of the best known. If you do a little research, you will find many different apps and tools that can help you meditate; then, all you have to do is find the one that suits you best. If you are worried about not having enough time, know that between 3 and 10 minutes a day can be enough to start benefiting from meditation. You can easily turn it into one of your daily habits.
2. Remember to breathe. If your heart rate gets faster or if your hands or palms are sweating, the best thing you can do is avoid panicking. Stay where you are and let yourself feel the panic, without trying to distract yourself. Place the palm of your hand on your stomach and take slow, deep breaths. The goal is to help your mind coexist with the panic, getting rid of your fear of fear itself.
3. Face your fears and consider the worst possible scenario. Avoiding your fears only makes them more terrifying. Whatever your fear, if you face it, it will lose strength. Try to imagine the worst thing that could happen. Ask yourself, “What is the worst thing that could happen?” And then, “How would I react if it happened?” Try to give yourself an answer.
4. Eliminate unnecessary stress around you. Tidy up whatever is in disarray. Physical order often helps give us a sense of mental order.
5. Talk about your fears. Share your fears, and deprive them of their strength. For example, being part of a community, a group of traders who, like you, share the same fears, can help you face them.

Turning Fear into an Advantage

How can you turn fear into an advantage?

Using the “affirmations” technique, you can overcome your worries and turn your fears into an advantage. The next time you feel nervous, anxious, worried or insecure, I invite you to dig into your emotions and find out what they are based on.

Be honest with yourself and identify what is at the root of your fear. Return to your trading plan and make it even stronger. Then write your negative thoughts, clearly and plainly, and next to them, write some powerful and positive phrases that will help you overturn these thoughts.

Repeat aloud your positive affirmations each morning as you prepare for the day. It is even better if you do this whilst looking at yourself in the mirror, repeating them with pride, ten times.

Does it seem a bit bizarre? Indeed, maybe it is, but many people find it useful. Keep in mind that it does not work for everyone: research has found that repeating statements that feel untrue can lower the mood of people with low self-esteem. So choose phrases you can believe, such as “I follow my trading plan.” And anyway, nobody has to know you do it, if you do not want them to.

So, the first step in managing anxiety and fear is to recognise them. Later, whether it is anxiety (the vision, in your mind, of potential danger) or fear (a known and defined threat), you can use different techniques to handle these feelings.

If your anxiety or fear is intense or does not go away, talk to a doctor or a psychologist. The techniques in this post can help you in your everyday trading, but they are not a substitute for professional support.