Competence reduces fear by giving uncertainty fewer places to hide.

Fear thrives in the gaps of what you cannot picture. When you do not know how something works, your mind fills the empty space with vague dread, and vague dread has no edges to push back against. Skill closes those gaps one at a time. The situation may still be genuinely uncertain, but the uncertainty gets specific, and specific problems are much easier to stand next to than unnamed ones.

Take whatever you are anxious about and try to write down exactly what you do not know. Most lists are shorter than the feeling suggested. Then go learn one item on that list this week, and notice how much of the fear was living in that particular blank.