Best Self Magazine

How to Make Friends with Our Fears

overcoming fear, photograph of empty microphone by Oscar Keys

Photograph by Oscar Keys

The secret to overcoming your fear is to consider it your ally, not your enemy

If you don’t know the nature of fear, you can never feel fearless.

— Pema Chodron

When I was six, my father bought me a life-changing gift: a violin. I wouldn’t say I had mind-blowing talent, but I was good with music, and I enjoyed spending time studying it. At the age of ten I started to give small concerts for my family and our circle of friends. Months later, I was playing at the School of Fine Arts in my

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