Fear says “what if it goes wrong?” Ask it back: “and then what?” Usually the answer is survivable.

Fear is good at the first question and terrible at the second. It paints the moment of failure in detail and then stops, which leaves you staring at a cliff with no ground drawn in below it. Following the story forward usually lands somewhere ordinary: an awkward week, a different plan, a conversation you did not want to have. That is not nothing, but it is a size you can carry.

Take the thing you are dreading and write down what happens the day after the worst version. Then the week after. Most of the time the drop turns out to be shorter than it looked from the edge.