5 Steps for Facing Your Fears
Being one of the "weakest fighters", Nirei Akihiko finds himself facing many of his fears. But how do you face fears? Read more to find out!
Written By: Fuegio Barrios
An anime-lover and a Mental Health Advocate.
Published: October 1, 2024
Last Updated: December 18, 2024
NOTE
This is a Nirei Akihiko Appreciation post, a Wind Breaker analysis, and a Self-help Guide.
TRIGGER WARNING: This post may contain triggering words. Please read with caution. If you are feeling uneasy, you may choose to stop reading this post.
SPOILER ALERT: This post may include spoilers from the Wind Breaker anime.
Introduction
“You must be disappointed…
A guy like me in Bofurin…”
Nirei Akihiko had just joined Furin High, also known as “Bofurin”, a renowned school with most of the strongest fighters. Now he is badly beaten up on the ground, facing his back against Sakura Haruka.
“You can find fakers anywhere”
Sakura Haruka had just saved Nirei from a bunch of hoodlums.
“I don’t know why you came to Furin High…
… But you need to learn your limits”
Sakura had also just joined Furin High but doubted Nirei’s capabilities in a fight. According to Sakura, they only “looked the part” but when a fight happens, they run. And for Sakura, this type of character was the lamest.
Nirei starts to explain that he used to be beaten up and bullied, but a Furin student saved him.
“A guy who would have ordinarily terrified me… looked so cool
I wanted to be like him…
I wanted to be strong… I wanted to be cool.
But I’m not.
I’m so lame.”
Nirei wanted to be strong and cool but after the recent fight, he felt the complete opposite. He felt weak, cowardly, and lame.
Though at first glance Sakura may have had his doubts about Nirei, Sakura realized something about Nirei–
“But hey, you’re not lame”
–He realized that Nirei wasn’t lame because when the fight began, Nirei wouldn’t back down despite his lack of fighting skills.
You might believe Nirei is weak because of his cowardly characteristics and fear, but I beg to differ. The fear that he experiences only makes him stronger and overrides his cowardly characteristics.
This makes him one of the bravest souls in the face of fear.
What is Fear?
As experienced by you, me, and Nirei, fear is essential to our survival, despite being looked down on by many people.
If there are life-threatening dangers and threats, our body responds with fear, effectively making us react how we need to, to challenge or flee from this threat.
Let’s further delve into “fear” — what it is and what it does–to understand Nirei’s story even more, and how to challenge and face our fears.
With that, here are 5 Steps for Facing Your Fears
Step 1. Understanding fear
To face fear, we must first understand it, just like Nirei, who carries a little notebook with him and notes all information on the people he looks up to, including fearsome and strong people.
Now, fear is crippling despite being a survival mechanism. Fear tends to stop you from moving forward.
What causes this response to fear? How do our mind and soul react to fear?
Outside the Brain and Into the Heart
To understand fear further, let’s dig deep into our hearts, beyond the brain’s response system.
When I say “into our hearts” I mean deep within our feelings and emotions’ core.
1. Hypervigilance
Nirei Akihiko has always been shown as the hypervigilant type. Due to fear, he always feels heightened awareness of his environment. He scans for potential threats frequently.
You may have experienced hypervigilance once in your life because of fear.
2. Avoidance
When we fear, we mostly want to avoid the situation as much as possible.
Unlike Nirei, who, despite possibly fearing being beaten up by the hoodlums and fleeing from the situation, pushed forward and faced his fears and enemies head-on.
This characteristic of Nirei wasn’t only shown once, but twice in the series. However, the second time is more indirect (explained in Step 5.)
Sakura respected this characteristic of Nirei, and everyone should respect it too.
3. Powerless or Helpless
When we fear, we feel overwhelmed and it’s too difficult to control the situation.
Therefore, we feel powerless and helpless. Nirei must’ve felt this as well when he continually faced his enemies.
When the hoodlums were beating him up, there must’ve been excessive fear, which made Nirei feel both powerless and powerful, as he was able to challenge this fear by being persistent in holding his position.
Another reason I say he must’ve felt powerless at one point is that after the fight when Sakura saved him, he felt disappointed in himself believing he wasn’t strong or cool.
Step 2. Acknowledging Fear
Now that we further understand fear, it’s time to acknowledge it.
Your Fear is Valid
In my opinion, it’s okay to be afraid.
You don’t have to force it to go away even if you want to because of its uncomfortable feeling and because your fear protects you. Both make your fear valid.
Not only that but because of fear, you get to understand yourself. We fear situations when things that matter to us are at risk. It helps us understand our values, principles, and priorities even more.
This also means that Nirei’s fears are completely valid, even if they make him look weak to some people.
Roots of Your Fear
Acknowledging fear doesn’t only mean saying “Yeah it’s valid” but also means understanding what the roots of your fears are.
Identifying the root cause of your fears isn’t easy. We tend to avoid both the situation and the feeling. In the end, we become dishonest to ourselves.
The key to identifying your root cause is “Self-Awareness.”
Being Self-Aware means you try to understand where the fear stems from, and most of all, you become honest with yourself.
After Nirei was beaten up by the hoodlums and saved by Sakura, he became realistic and objective with himself. He became honest because he realized he wasn’t as strong as he thought. This could’ve been the root cause of his fear, but his honesty was the cause of his development.
Step 3: Befriending Fear
Two Sides of Fear
befriending fear is done by looking at fear from two sides.
Before we talk about the two sides, remember that fear is also associated with emotional/social growth and character development, and this is the basis for the two sides.
So, the two sides of Fear are as follows:
- Problematic Side — it protects you by keeping you stagnant because it makes you avoid the situation forever
- Beneficial Side — It protects you by simply keeping you cautious of your actions and decision-making
Knowing these two sides, you can choose from the two options:
- Make fear your enemy
- Make fear your true friend
Fear as Your Enemy
If you see fear as your enemy, it means you believe that the uncomfortable feeling of fear is there to harm you. Also, you would believe that you should avoid fear itself.
Fear as Your True Friend
Just like Sakura to Nirei, a true friend doesn’t sugarcoat words. A true friend helps you improve, grow, and develop based on their advice or suggestions while noting how they speak to you. The results will also depend on how you interpret their words and advice.
In Nirei’s case, he allows and acknowledges the fear’s existence to be present.
What can this do? Acknowledging and allowing fear to be present can help you become more cautious with your actions just like Nirei.
Now, if you choose this route, you’ll be able to take notice of what you’re afraid of and learn how to improve using that fear.
Step 4: Harmonizing With Fear
Harmonizing with fear means allowing it to stay with you side by side, listening to what it says without forcefully ignoring it.
So, in a way, conquering fear doesn’t always mean you’ll stop being scared, but it could also mean your rational mind is in harmony with your fear.
Here’s an analogy that I got from a book called "The Laws of Human Nature" by Robert Greene: The Rider and the Horse.
The rider is your rational mind, and the horse is your emotions. Hold the rein too tight and the horse won't be able to move, let the rein too loose and the horse gallops too much for you to handle and you’ll fall off.
In hindsight, this analogy might seem to suggest controlling your emotions. Still, it could also mean being in balance with your emotions—in other words, being in harmony with them being in balance.
As for Nirei, in the first few episodes, he tends to hold the reins of fear too tight, like during the trespassing on Lion’s Head’s turf, but as his character develops, he lets the reins loose enough to let the horse (emotions and fear) gallop as much as it needs to, as seen progressively the first season.
Step 5: Experiencing With Fear
This only means one thing: Experience life alongside fear.
This means exposing yourself to your fears and creating a fear ladder.
But what is a fear ladder?
Fear Ladder
During the fight between Bofurin and Lion’s Head, Sakura asked what Nirei was doing there even though he wasn’t a part of the chosen fighters. Nirei said he wanted to learn. This is exposure. Nirei faces his fears by exposing himself. But you might say, “He didn’t expose himself by fighting.”
This is where a fear ladder is created: Creating a list of actions starting with the lowest level. Keep increasing the difficulty where anxiety adds.
For Nirei’s example, this is his fear ladder. Before he could ever fight and face his fears, he would learn from other fighters while facing some of his fears.
Conclusion
In conclusion, It’s never too easy to face fears. And I think that’s one of Nirei's strongest points. He can learn information quickly, he can easily understand people, which, as a result, helps him face his fears.
If Nirei can slowly face his fears, you can too. But remember to take things at your own pace and not rush things.
Don’t give up! You can do this!
Support us!
If you enjoyed this post or learned a thing or two, feel free to give us a tip by donating at: https://ko-fi.com/animezinph
Read Another Article!
Fuegio Barrios
