Shadows on a wall make a small hand look like a dragon. Fear works with the same projector.

Scale is what fear distorts. A small object held close to the light throws an enormous shape, and your mind does exactly that with whatever you are holding right up against it: the conversation, the result, the message you have not sent. The shadow is real and the size is not. Distance changes the picture more than courage does.

Write down what you are afraid of and then what would actually happen, step by step, worst version included. Most of them end somewhere manageable and a little embarrassing. Then move it further from the light by telling one person.