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Since gymnasium I have always been afraid of speaking in english.
This fear I got after changing my school (middle school into gymnasium). New school, teachers, classmates - look like enough challenges for a student, but there was one more. Everyone in our class realised that english teacher really doesn't like me. At first it was hard to notice because I was thinking "all will be well, it's hard for her and for us because from the very first lesson we started preparing for english exam (in the english 11th grade), we will get along each other soon and everything will be perfect".
No. It wasn't perfect at all. I think I have to mention here that I wasn't a genius who always raises hand or very curious questioner so it looked that I didn't make any of movements for her to start hating me.

There was one moment when she went to my desk, picked my notebook, raised it in the air and shout out load to all in the class "how is it possible to find or to read somthing in this manure?". It touched me very hard. "Why does she did it to me? Why she made a rumor from me?" - these quesions were jumping in my head for a long time.

Long story short: later I heard the story that the teacher hated me because a few years ago she heard me saying something bad aboud her to someone. Wait a second. How it could be possible if I wasn't her student until now? I just started to go to new school and she is new for me like all other things in the gymnasium. So what are we talking about? Maybe it was not me? She never agreed with the thing that maybe it was a different girl, not me. Can you believe it?. :)))

Of course I changed my teacher, went to the principal and etc. (but the fear went behind me too).
This experience made me think that I am not enough because I was scared to speak at her lessons.

It was about 6 years ago but it touched me so hard that I still remember this story very clearly, it had bad impact for my health as well. It sounds like a part from a fairy tale but believe me I would be very happy if it would be just a dream. (You won't believe how happy I was when somebody told me that in 2021 she left that school!! My first answer was "WONDERFUL! No one will traumatise children anymore")

This is my story. Other teachers were like 100 % better and step by step the fear was smaller and smaller. What I realised in previous year that I really love to talk in english with people whose first/mother language is NOT english. When you talk with these people you can feel mutual support and this is amazing... :)
Jone

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I have this fear since I remember myself. And when I was little, I can not pass any bridge or go up using ladders. One day something changed. I climbed the tree in my grandparent's garden with other kids. After that I can pass the bridge and use ladders, but I still can't go somewhere very high, for example Akropolis car parking is a nonexistent place for me.

Gintare Alysaite

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Fear stops a person, makes them afraid, and that is uncomfortable emotion that I sometimes have to feel.
There are three things that often bothers me. The first thing I fear are needles or in other words trypanophobia. I was always scared when I came to the doctors appointment. It made me moraly weak.
The second thing would be the fear of heights. I am afraid of them because the thought of hurting yourself or dying from being higher than than 3 meters overwhelmes me.
The third thing would be fear of the deepness of oceans. It might be because we know so little of the oceans. Therefore, when I am swimming I always tend to swin with reachable group under me - the edges of ponds, not so deep in lakes.

-Gabrielė Margytė

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I guess all of us have phobias or fears, and I'm the exception. My worst fear is butterflies. Yes, someone can see it strange or laugh at it, but it is. I'm not sure when it started. I think I was 16-17 years old. I'm really afraid of them and when I see them, I call someone's realities to remove them. Then I started living on my own. It was summer, windows open, and it was then the morning I saw the beast in my kitchen, huge like my middle finger night butterflies. I think I would die. No one was there to call for help, so I must deal with it. I threw it off the ceiling with a brush and threw a towel on it, after which, in tears, I carried it out to the balcony and threw it out. On the same day, I bought mosquito nets and slept peacefully.

Patricija

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No matter how ridiculous it sounds, it's not a joke to me. I've been climbing trees since I was a kid, I've been doing ridiculous things, but I've never climbed the ladder. Even on stairs that have gaps. If the stairs are solid, no problem, but if I see the ground under your feet, you will not force me to climb more than 5 stairs.
Now I made friends with my fear and began to trust architects and engineeres. I usually climb to the second floor, but I avoid the ladders:))
-Rimantė

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I grew up in the city of Ibadan in Nigeria,  which is one of the geographically largest cities in West Africa, and it is greatly surrounded by hills and mountains.

As a kid, I and my peers were fond of playing around these mountains to enjoy the serene nature of our habitation. On such occasions, we would try to climb the mountains to get to the top just so we could have a glimpse of the beautiful view from above the ground; many times we tried I only made it halfway and never made it to the top of the mountains because I discovered how frightened I become when I look below from such height.

But, as time went by, I have learned to gain more confidence in myself to overcome my fear of heights, the first decision I made to help me was to board planes more frequently when traveling other than other means of transportation. I often engaged in indoor rock climbing and read articles online on overcoming fears of heights to help me develop my mindsets and inner thoughts when confronted with height.

Right now I am highly motivated to take on any height not just physically, but also in every aspect of my life, I now believe if I set my mind on anything I could achieve it by facing my fears. Now I would say "The sky is just a starting point for me".

Victor Potokri.

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I was afraid to speak English, when I entered the University. The reason was the fear of making mistakes. "They will think I'm stupid", were my thoughts. But when I started studying, my fear gradually subsided. I almost completely got rid of it after English B1 course.

As a proof can be my German - after just a half a year of studying I spoke it (just a little), but was not nervous.

Barys Shauchuk

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During my university years, I started being afraid of sharing my point of view and my opinion. In my own country, university students are very competitive, and they would do everything to put you down somehow. Among these things, there was also the “laughing at you if you make mistakes, or if you say something that they don’t consider clever enough”. I had started being silent during classes, and in my mind, there was always the thought “what if I say something not smart?”. I was scared of being judged, of not being enough. My first Erasmus in Lithuania helped me a lot overcome this fear: I could share my thoughts without anyone judging me, and, furthermore, it made me realize that mistakes are necessary to improve! I am slowly understanding that my ideas have value, so they must be respected.

Rosa Mennillo

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I always remember myself as very shy, not self-confident at all, and have a lot of fears because of "my comfort zone." I love to be in a comfort zone, where everything is familiar, where I can feel safe. One of the hardest things was to climb over myself, when I needed to try new things in my life. Sometimes I felt addicted to other people, because I couldn't do simple things by myself. I am very proud that I found the way to overcome my fear. I often try to push myself in that situation which is not in my comfort zone that I needed to climb over myself. Overcoming my fears has opened up a world of possibilities, now I feel better than ever, far more free, confident, now I feel myself.
Vaiga Čečytė

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Inevitably I have fears too. Fear not only of spiders but.. and fear of being on stage. The scene is not new to me. I have been singing for almost 10 years. When I got on stage for the first time I was very stressful, I didn't trust myself. But with each show, I felt more and more confident, relaxed and just enjoyed what I was doing. Music accompanies me everywhere in my life. As one of the authors and librettist of popular American song lyricist said : "Words make you think. Music makes you feel. A song makes you feel a thought." E.Y. Harburg
Gabija Gabrilaitytė

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My fear of going down the hill

It happened approximately ten years ago. It all started when I got cross country skis from Santa. I used to ski in my young days and it was in Lithuania. The action I am telling was in the Norwegians mountains. Good luck that my husband is very patient and attentive. He didn’t think it might be hard for me. When I stood on the skis, I felt like a cow on the ice. Snow was so hard and slippery! I could move very little forward on plain parts. When I had to go down the hill - I came up against a brick wall. I realized wouldn’t overcome this fear. There were both tears and I felt a lot of frustration with myself. But little by little I started training on the more conventional tracks. My husband supported me a lot. And what do you think, I overcame the fear? And now I stand firmly on the skis and I am also skiing downhill at high speed. Believe what's a great pleasure. I am very proud of myself for not giving up.
Rasa Malinauskaitė-Berven

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I'm the oldest child in my famelly.My sister(midlle child) not a baby,she is only 2 year younger than me.And such difference not really feel big when I'm 18 and she is 16.But when I was a little child I couldn't notice that my sister had more attention than me.Firstly I had so much anger,my mind spoken that this isn't fair at all.I was really drama queen at that time.Becouse of that my mam had bad mood as my father and my little sister,back then she understant less then me,her eyes were cried.In this poin anger was gone only guilt left.I had disaided close my emotions.When I went to first class I become expressionless introvert.I had almost no friends till ten grade.And I still could be emotionless robot if I weren't be lucky.I met really good friends that since 8 grade piece by piece make this emotion cage weaker.And also when I and my sister become older my parents start trying equalise their attention.And in the end,I had go to Universety in another country and socialisation in new place just murdered my alexithymia.
Now I could frelly show my emotion.From strasfull emotionless introvert I become chill honest ambiverts.And I really happy about that.
P.S. To be introvet it's not bad(I still could choose serial over party in club sometimes)I'm just say that my comunication stage has changed.
-Ivan Kozachenko

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Since High School, I had a fear of speaking English. It had no difference if the person was the native speaker or not, or the person had less knowledge than me. Last year I decided to overcome this fear, and I went to the Erasmus studies. I think it was the best way to achieve my goal. When I went abroad, I got myself out of my comfort zone. I had no other choice just to speak in English. I have to admit, in the beginning, it was hard for me, but when time passed by, I got more courageous. At the end of my studies, I even started to like speaking in English. Maybe it was because it was the only way to communicate with my new friends, but it helped me. The English language doesn't look so scary anymore for me. In my opinion, the best way to overcome your fear is to do things you are scared of the most.
Evelina Morkevičiūtė

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When I was a child I had a strong fear of the dark. I always tried to avoid dark places, but often still had to go there. Every time I stayed in a dark room, I felt that I was not alone and there were a lot of monsters who wanted to eat me. I tried my best to keep calm, showing the monsters that I was not afraid of them, but the hardest thing was to leave the dark room, because the desire to leave was so strong, that each time I lost my temper and began to run away. I knew that in this way I was showing the monsters that I was afraid of them and so they could attack me. Therefore, each time leaving the room turned into a race for life. However, once I had to go to a dark place, everything changed a lot. The fact is that before that I quarreled with my grandmother and because of that I was very nervous and angry. When I got there, I remembered that monsters were about to appear and I needed to be afraid, but I was so angry that I was ready to destroy anyone who bothered me. So I told the monsters that as soon as one of them showed up, I would kill him. I stood and waited for it to happen. Of course no one showed up, I left the place proudly and fearlessly. Since then, I have never been afraid of the dark.
Serhii Andrushko

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When I was 16 years old, I had to do my last vaccination, that's when I realised that I have fear of needles. I was sitting in the corridor and have heard how baby badly cried and I was sooo scared of my vaccination, when I was already sitting in cabinet I haven't looked at nurse, but when she was wiping my hand, I realised it was done and it haven't hurt so bad as I expected. Now, every time I have vaccination, I turn my head off nurse and trying to keep calm, because I know, when I am under tension, it hurts. For a very long time I wanted to donate my blood, but I still can't overcome my fear and the fact that nobody have taken my blood from vein  yet scares me even more. I hope that one day I will be able to overcome my fear and complete my old dream.
Ana Andronik

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I have a somewhat fear of heights, recently when I climbed up and down the stairs of Vilnius's cathedral bell tower, my legs were shaking because of the fear of slipping, and falling from a big height.
I'm scared of big heights, whenever I come across big heights, my legs start to shake, and sometimes I freeze in one position.
Karolina Gudaitė

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My fear is rather strange but I have been very afraid of mice since childhood. And now if somewhere squeaks think of a mouse. And if I see a mouse I can't fall asleep. I don’t know how to overcome this fear because it looks like a small, cute animal but there is fear. As a child, my parents tried to dispel that fear, bought a hamster, but I was still afraid of it and it didn’t help.

Miglė Kilikevičiūtė

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I only realized that I had this fear now, even though it all happened when I was a 7-10-year-old child. I remember all my dreams when a dark spiderman took my mom through the room window, when giant spiders attacked my family, and so on. After all these dreams, I was running to my parents ’room to check if they were still asleep, standing and watching them sleep. Now my actions seem more frightening than the reason I was doing that. A few years later, when I grew up a bit, I started to dream about a different type of dream related to the fear of losing my family or the incapability to return home. These dreams are stuck in my memory very firmly. But I never thought of them as setting an expression of fear. Only now do I realize that after analyzing these dreams, it can be said that I once had such a fear. Of course, in my opinion, for a child of this age, the fear of losing their parents is normal, but I don’t think many children get it through dreams, or that they realize they’re afraid of it. On the other hand, I didn't get rid of my fears, we all don’t want to lose our parents, but everyone has to find a way to live together with their fears. In my case, I just realized there are things you can’t change. People come and go, some leave forever, others still have a chance to come back. I am still afraid of losing my parents, however, my joy and gratitude that they are still with me and that they have been with me all this time are much stronger.

Monika Davydovaite

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How I overcame it? Just went past them, if they bite, I would kick them, I thought. They were all bark and no bite, afterall.

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Nowadays I like to consider myself to be quite an outgoing person, that always has something to say and likes to express his opinions. Unfortunately, this was not always the case for me, as I used to be a very shy and  private person and mostly kept to myself in everyday life or social situations . I used to take all of the comments about my appearance or character personally and few bad words coming from other people or my friends would be enough to keep me angry and a bit sad for the rest of the day. This started to change in the last couple of years of  high school when I enrolled into multiple after-class activities in my city, such and Young Conservatives league  and Scholars union, these places gave me the opportunity to find like-minded people and come out of my shell. Still, the most drastic changes came after I started studying and working in the service industry after my Gap year. I believe that working in the service industry really helped me learn how to understand people and be in control in social situations, that previously would have been very  uncomfortable. In order to be good at my job I had to be outgoing and charming, good communication helped me earn better tips. Now I can use all of the social skills I learned during my time in service industry to meet new people and advocate for myself in all kinds of situations and being able to laugh at myself really helps me not feel bad after getting mean comments from others.

Justė Glinskytė

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The sea, summer, heat - all this makes people happy.  Who doesn't like to plunge into the cool sea in the heat? ME!

In one of the hottest years, my parents and I went on vacation at sea.  The sea was wonderful, transparent, calm.  My dad and I decided to swim on a water mattress.  We swam far enough, about 100 meters from the shore, and started to play and indulge.  At one point, I just fall off the mattress and I realize that I'm not alone in the water.  I started floundering and screaming, but water got into my mouth and I gradually went to the bottom.  At the same time, I felt a burning pain from my legs to my neck.  And then my dad pulls me back onto the water mattress.  I understand that only a couple of seconds have passed, but in my head it all lasted for several minutes.  Finding myself on the mattress and crying from that burning pain, I immediately rushed to look what was there, what frightened me so.  It was a huge flock of jellyfish.  I had almost all of my body red from these burns, but the next day they disappeared.
To this day, I love the sea as much as I did as a child, but now I treat it with the utmost care.  From that moment, I do not swim in the sea, I can only go somewhere up to my chest into the water and stand carefully looking out for something floating near me.  Therefore, for more than ten years I have preferred swimming pools)))
- Valeriia Puzankova

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I lived in a small town, so moving to Kaunas to study was full of challenges for me. I first encountered my fear when I had to go to a lecture on several buses instead of one. After getting off at the first stop I had to go to the next one, but in such a big city I felt very confused, not knowing where to go and what to do, so I wandered in search of the right bus stop and ended up late for the lecture. From this point on, I was very scared to take public transport because it was new to me, I felt really scared. Of course, I knew I had to overcome that fear because I would have to go to lectures every day, so I focused and asked a friend to use some public transportation with me to make me feel more confident. He also taught me to use various public transportation apps, schedules. From then on,  I'm trying and trying to use it as often as possible, so I'm not afraid of it anymore. So, fear is no longer fear when you face it every day.
- Vanesa :)

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When I was little, I had a fear of water. I was afraid and cried when drops of water fell on my face. Mom did her best to help me overcome this fear. She bought me a shampoo that doesn't sting my eyes. She taught me to tilt my head so that water does not run over my face and cover my ears. And this fear began to pass a little. After a while, when water got on my face, I did not cry, but laughed.

It is worth noting that I overcame my fear, but I trusted only my mother. And one day I stayed with my grandmother. And she redeemed me so that this fear returned again😂 And then everything started from the very beginning.

Now everything is fine, I overcame this fear. Thank you very much to my mom💞 And special thanks to grandma😂👋
- Anastasiya Ihnatovich

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While being in pro-gymnasium I actively played sports. Being one of the main players of basketball team I was tasked to organise the last attack or even shoot the last shot. Then, I really hated last minutes of the mach, due to it being stressful and because of responsibility that I was carrying. However, through out the years when I got older, I started enjoying these do or die situations. As a player I had to understand that not every time everything will go according to the plan but from you always learn from the loses. So, with every loss and every match I gained more experience and forgot the fear of the last shot.
Tadas Mikonis

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I never thought I had the fear of heights. When I realized it for the first time I was about 14-15 years old. One day my school organized a trip to another city where we had to visit an old church. When we arrived at the place I saw an old, tall building. I didn't really want to go there but I had to :D When we climbed on the rooftop and I saw that there was no handrail. At that moment I  realized that I can't move my legs. My all body was shaking. It's really hard to explain that feeling but since then I'm afraid of high places where I don’t feel safe. Sometimes I even have nightmares about it :(

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To be honest, I've had a lot of hard times feeling lonely. I grew up in a big house in the country, a little isolated from others. We were 2 kilometres from the town, in the middle of the field. I remember when my parents went out for a week or a weekend. I was surrounded by an infinite and empty space, which made me see myself even more alone. For me, staying with my dog and cats and writing was the only thing that made me feel better. I wrote a lot at that time in my life, which makes me happy. It also made me see that loneliness was not outside, it was inside of me. Today I continue working on it and I think it is a very common fear in our society. Finally, I would like to share with you this interesting video on the subject.
-Curro Beleño Fito

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Since childhood it was very hard to make new friends with strangers when there was a lot of people in the room. My anxiety would make me feel distracted in new places and that discomfort I felt made a huge impact on my behaviour when it came to making friends. But day after day, well maybe when I became a teenager, I started going out with my friends and meeting more new people. At first I still wasn't able to feel comfortable around those new or old friends, but I tried to jump over that obstacle that was holding me back, and I started to communicate with them more. Now and then I still get that anxiety, but I think it is easier to deal with it.
-Rita Bražionytė

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From as long as I can remember I've been very socialy anxious. I've avoided going to school, shop, having fun with friends and everything that involved social interaction. It got better, when I made a desicion to go out more with my friends but it still keeps me away from doing a lot of things, it's hard to hold a conversation with new people, go out in new places or just have small talk with people I know. I have a long way to go, but everyday is a bit easier when i know I'm not alone in this
-Miglė Auškalnytė

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As the picture shows, when I see a dog, my mind will appears this picture. I am not only afraid of big, fierce dogs, but also small dogs. As long as it is a dog, I will stay away from it. One day I finished dinner from my grandfather’s house. It was already very dark. I was walking on the way. Suddenly there was a huge and fierce dog barking on the road. I saw five or six dogs in front of me. They all stared at me. I dare not to breathe,  finally I called my grandpa, and he finally drove me home. I was very impressed with this incident. In the worst case, I could not even look at pictures of dogs. Now I am much better , but I can't completely get rid of my fear of dogs. As long as I walk on the street, I might see dogs. The only thing I can do is not to look at them, and to lighten the sound of walking, so that I will treat it as non-existent.
xinyi qiu

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I am that person who is always busy—not even a pandemic could stop me. During quarantine, my Google calendar has been packed.  I think I’ve always known it, but a few months ago I was ready to admit to myself, and others, that my biggest fear is being lonely. :)My fear is of being in that horrible place where you believe that you’re quite alone in the world and that there’s no-one, in that moment, that you could contact who has the ability to make you feel any different.To be honest I am mix of extrovert and introvert, so although I love people, I need time every day to be on my own and recharge my energy. So, to stop this fear from holding me back and getting in the way of me fully experience of life, I decided to explore it, get close to it and, ultimately, face it!
-Roberta Kirsnickaitė

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After finishing school I decided to travel to Europe when I was 20 years old, it was the first time I was away from home, family and friends, I felt very scared because I was learning a completely different language than Spanish and at that time I only knew the basics.

My biggest worry was getting lost and not getting to my host family, however, they were kind and understanding in this learning process so they decided to support me from the beginning, they thought of starting with small challenges like going to the bakery, to the pharmacy, buying a train ticket, among others, at the beginning it was scary but as the weeks went by I started to gain confidence and improve my communication skills.

In the beginning, I was panicking, thinking and rethinking about the right words to say so as not to look like a foolish person, but it's not healthy to think about it, it's better to try and if you make mistakes it's part of the process.  It helped me a lot to write in post-it activities to do, use a dictionary, read children's stories and talk about what happened in my day with my host family, after a year I learned that fear is a normal physiological reaction to an unknown situation that helps us to be alert but we cannot be paralysed in the face of it.

Now I have started my master's degree at VMU and I feel that it has been one of the best decisions and challenges that I am living at the moment because it is a change of life and culture, a challenge to learn a new language, friends, society that will help me not only professionally but also personally.

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-Think back to your childhood for a moment.....

If your childhood was a time where your parents or guardians met everything you did with judgment and resistance, it wouldn’t surprise me if you were afraid to fail.

Atychiphobia is the unwarranted chronic and persistent fear of doing something wrong in your life or making any kind of mistake.
I want to tell you that this is my description. I was always afraid of failure. Since childhood, all girls want to be perfect and exemplary, so I tried and did everything above my head. And one day I realized that I don`t live my life by my own rules and desires. I thought for a long time, cried, read, dreamed, decided and dared. And at the end of the school year, I decided to try something completely new for myself.
"I have only one life and I need to be brave," I thought then. And it pushed me to action, and I signed up for the Lawn tennis. The coach was my friend, mentor, father and motivator. Over time, I realized that every failure is an experience that makes us stronger.

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When I was in the last year of school almost all my of my friends and classmates got their driving licenses. I was very jealous for them, because it always looked liked for me that if you got your driving license you are much more free than those who don't have it. I would have also tried to get my driving license, but I had a fear. A fear of driving. Even when I thought about driving my hands began shaking like crazy! So I decided to wait and this year I registered at a driving school. I decided that no matter what I will go to the lessons and at least try to learn the art of driving. Of course there were a moments when I didn't wanted to go to the lessons, when I thought that driving is not for me and I will never learn it, but now I can say - it gets better, now I actually start to enjoy driving. I don’t have a driver’s license yet, but I’ve convinced myself that these years are the ones when I will get it for real and I really believe that.

-Deimantė Kaminskaitė

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I had to speak in front of a few hundred of my school mates

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I had to speak in front of a few hundred of my school mates

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As I remember it was maybe 9 or 10th year in school and there was some sports event, which led to sport awards in a main hall of the school. Suddenly, when the sports competition finished, everyone went to the main hall to get their awards and listen to a principal's speech. I was in good relation with a P.E teacher, and before awards started he came up to me and told me that the main host got sick and he asked to hold an event. I got dizzy straight away, but I couldn't say no. He gave me a notebook which was full of writing. I had maybe 10 minutes to read it before getting on stage. Honestly, I can't remember a single word I've said on stage, adrenaline kicked me so hard, my blood pressure was close to the critical line I guess, but everything went alright it seems. After that, I thought I could do everything on stage, but maybe a few weeks later I had to talk in front of 50 people and I got sick again, so obviously I have overestimated myself!

Deividas Kiskionis

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I think the last biggest fear that I had was online lectures. When the pandemic started I was in twelfth grade, it was my last year at school. None thought that one day something like pandemic would kick in, everyone will be sick and school will become learning online. Of course it had some pros - I didn't have to get up early and get ready to go to a bus stop to get to school and etc., but it was so different, in my life it brought so much stress. I have no idea why, but my first classes when I had to speak at online lectures was biggest hell for me, at first times I got so stressed, sometimes it felt like my voice cracks a little bit. But as in the TedTalk, like the man on the stage, who had stage fright, I tried my best to speak up in my lectures as much as I can to fight against my fear. And time passing by I finally felt much more comfortable when speaking online in my lectures and finally overcame my fear.

Simona Šileikaitė

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For a long time, I had a fear of loneliness in my life. I was terrified of losing my friends and family, being alone in a difficult situation. However, I found interesting solutions for myself on how to overcome my fear.

First of all, I started to devote more time to myself. I started doing sports and yoga, which helped me calm my nerves and maintain my health.
Also, before I was afraid to walk alone, worried that the people around me would think about me. Therefore, last summer I decided to go to another city for a few days alone and prove to myself that there is nothing to worry about. I realized that spending more time on myself is normal and sometimes necessary :)

"It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone." - Mahatma Gandhi

Nastassia Raikova

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Almost all my childhood I lived on the 11th floor. We had a large balcony where you could go out to relax, get some fresh air, etc. I was never afraid to do this. On the contrary, I felt absolutely comfortable watching the sky or birds from the balcony. We even spent a lot of time with friends on the balcony, launching paper airplanes on strings so that we could get them and launch them again :)

Everything was fine until I started looking down. It was stressful for me every time. Looking down and feeling a great height, fear swept all over my body, my head began to spin and it seemed to me that I could fall out at any moment. Since then, I have tried not to look down when I am at high altitude.

I struggle with this phobia, and I hope that I will succeed in the future. Maybe someday I'll jump with a parachute... someday...

Dzmitry Astrouski

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When I was in high school, I was learning french. Every year in March our school celebrated Francophonie Month. When I was in eighth grade, my teacher decided that I was fluent in reading French. So, March came and we had a big event at school dedicated to Francophonie Month. I had to read text in French before the whole school. I was very scared. 🙈 I began to tremble. So my reading was very, very bad. I read the words as they were written. I did not follow the rules of pronunciation. I knew I would be very ashamed later. But everyone began to applaud. 👏 It turns out, no one in the hall knew French well, only the teachers. No one noticed how bad my pronunciation was. After that, I immediately realized that there is nothing to fear in life. So I chose to study French. And I am very happy at the moment!  🇫🇷

- Neda Andrijauskaitė

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Fear of living alone in the future and struggles in making new relationship  

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Fear of living alone in the future and struggles in making new relationship  

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I think that during my life I had and have not one fright these days. Maybe I can mention such typical things as not full-trust of my own strenghts or knowing what person I want exactly be in the future. Well, I think that a lot of problems related with bullying or making decisions on my own came and come from being in loving but comfortable background where things are being done for me, although maybe and not fully. I think that it could cause a situation when I have difficulties to meet new friends or find a girlfriend. Well, I hope that through several years or more I will become stronger and stronger mentally and gain some force to fight against my evils and with a new honest and loving person overcome the obstacles which will try to block the road for me.

- Paulius Mikšys

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I haven't been always afraid of flying. Indeed, when I was a child I like it a lot, maybe because the children don't understand the danger. It's not the fear of heights that scares me but it is more the fear of falling. Knowing that there are 10,000 meters of emptiness below me makes me panic. But now I can control this fear because I know that it is rare that something can happen to me but also because through the plane I can go to see magnificent places.

- Marta Bedont

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One of my biggest fear is to speak in foreign languages. I understand English, a little bit Russian and I can say a few words in German but when I need to say it out loud my voice is just cracking. I think that I had languages in my head but when I'm speaking it looks like I'm having a stroke :D My tongue doesn't listen to me and I start saying random things with grammar and vocabulary mistakes. To cope with that I challenged myself to speak as much as I can. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable and silly but it helps me to learn and deal with my speaking anxiety. I would say that we can't give up and sometimes we have to push ourselves a little bit harder! I know it's scary but it's worth it!  <3
Indrė

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I wish I didn’t have that fear. I’m afraid to speak to other people in a language other than my native language, especially if it needs to be done in English. I am afraid to make a lot of grammatical mistakes, I am also afraid that I will forget the right words or that others will not understand me. But in fact, as I stepped through myself and communicating with others abroad in English, I never get the bad comments that I was speaking incorrectly or that they didn’t understand me. It just seems like people want you to talk as much as possible, try and not give up.
-Vestina Navickaitė

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Overcoming your Fear of Speaking Foreign Languages | Ellen De Visser | TEDxWolverhampton

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I believe that every one of us faces challenges every day. For me the biggest challenges were to be alone in certain periods of life. First of all, I had to transfer from one high school to another where I didn’t know anyone 📚 The second time was my job training in Vienna, Austria and I also didn’t know what was waiting for me there (of course, I made lots of friends there) 🛫 Finally, last summer I decided to go for a solo vacation to Mallorca, Spain 🌴 I was doubting at first because I wasn’t sure that I was ready, but when I bought plane tickets, there was no going back. I planned my trip in advance, this way I explored a great deal of places in the whole island in one week. I was so happy that I overstepped myself and this challenge to go there by myself and I unquestionably suggest for all of you to try a solo vacation at least once in your lifetime. 🌎

— Lucia 🥰

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When I was a kid I had a few unpleasant interactions with homeless or drunk people. They were agressive towards me and even wanted to fight me. But when I grew up i realised that not all of them are bad people and that I was just unlucky. Now I don't have anything against them and sometimes when they ask for a cigarette I just give it to them and in exhange I get interesting conversations. Most of them are really nice and have backstories that are worth listening.

-Lukas Jestremskis

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I was being taught how to drive a car since I was a little girl. While visiting my aunt that lives in the countryside, my dad used to let me drive around the village. Even though I already knew how to drive a car in the countryside, learning to drive in the city was quite a challenge. I was frightened of other cars in the town traffic, scared of roundabouts and switching lanes. One specific time, in the roundabout near the Kaunas castle, I even started crying because I was so anxious to start moving with a car. Of course, now it is not that kind of a challenge, as I have nearly 2 years of driving experience and I at least know the capabilities of my car.

- Evelina Duraitė

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Fear of being near drunk, drug-addicted strangers

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Fear of being near drunk, drug-addicted strangers

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In my view, it is so strange to have this kind of fear. However, I have an explanation - during summer, I have worked in a restaurant which works hours are 24/7. I worked at night shift as a waiter. There were a lot of regular clients - they ordered foods, light cocktails, or beer. That is understandable and normal, some people use their free time to relax this way. Despite nice colleagues, good tips and salary there is a really dark side to this kind of job. I had to stay in touch and be polite with really aggressive people, there were a lot of accidents - conflicts, fights and etc. Some clients were so discourteous - they called me different names, were extremely ridiculous and some of those even tried to touch me - it looked really funny to them. Maybe it sounds funny but after this experience, I feel really guilty about being around this kind of place and it scares me because I feel like someone will start a fight or conflict really soon. This feeling gives me chills and I feel like I am near to a panic attack.
-Svajūnė Stankelytė

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When I was a child I had a dream to learn how to cycle on a bike.  One day  I was with my friends and we were having fun. One of my friends had the bike and she decided to teach me bicycling. While I was riding I fell and hurt myself, it really scared me,  because of that I never got on the bike again. Years later when I already had a child, me and my husband decided to buy bicycles for our daughter. She was scared and bored to ride alone, so I had to overcome my biggest fair for her. My husband bought me the bike and I started learning from the beginning. It was really difficult, scary and hard not only physically but also psychologically – a real challenge! But my family supported and believed in me no matter what. Now I can easily do it and I am proud of my family!
-Jelena Vildžiūnienė

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I have never been a social butterfly. Meeting new people and making connections with them has always been a challenge for me. I enjoy being alone, I enjoy my thoughts and decisions. I don’t like to depend on somebody else, it makes me anxious, so when I am forced to interact with people that I don’t know very well, I always feel uncomfortably. However, I know that there always going to be people around me, so I am trying my best to overcome my challenge to meet new people, and who knows, maybe one day I will be a social butterfly that I have never thought of.

-Deimile Cirvinskaite

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One thing that I fear the most is being alone. All years of my life I was surrounded by people. I enjoy being someone's friend, love, or even enemy. This may be because communication and some sort of connection with people make me more or less happy and I love the feeling of being useful. After some changes in my life I am now forced to enjoy myself and it is hard for me. To be honest, it is harder than I thought it will be, but I can say that I am on a verge of overcoming this fear and that every day after day I feel more and more in tune with myself.

-Povilas Damanskas

“Being alone never felt right. sometimes it felt good, but it never felt right.”

― Charles Bukowski

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When I was a teenager, I had a lot of problems with social anxiety. I had a hard time communicating with new people and speaking in front of an audience. When it came time to choose what I wanted to study, I really wanted to choose pedagogy, but at the last minute I was scared that it would be too difficult for me to overcome the fear of speaking, so I chose accounting studies. After completing my first year, however, I realized that accounting is not for me and I decided to take risks, so the next year I started to study primary school pedagogy. So, I am studying Pedagogy of Primary Education and Early Foreign Language Teaching for the second year in a row and I did not regret my choice for a moment. The first lesson I took at school I started to panic and I thought I was doing everything wrong. After the lesson, the lecturer made her remarks, but praised that I had conducted the lesson perfectly. When I saw that I could, there was no such great fear from that moment. I have already done an internship twice at school, led lessons, interacted with new people and it became my passion. The best thing for me to overcome my fear is to start doing it, and then retreat is nowhere to be found (after all, you won't run away in the middle of the lesson scared). It was the best challenge that helped me overcome all my fears.

Greta Jusaitytė

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I never liked being in small spaces. Till this day I hate tight hugs. 😅
For most of my life I avoided taking the elevator. Unfortunately, last year, when I lived in Vilnius for a few months, each day I had to go to the 15th floor. I wasn't ready physically, nor mentally climbing that many floors on foot. Thus, I had to overcome my fear of enclosed spaces. Some distraction techniques that helped me to redirect my attention were talking to someone or listening to loud music.
Eventually, I got used to it.
-Monika Imbrasaitė

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I remember my first day in a new high school. Walking in, nervous as hell, and sitting down among a group of 5 others just as socially awkward. Had trouble making friends, holding basic conversations, feared being the center of attention, constantly felt like a person is reading my mind if we make eye contact, could not stay in the moment, mind was racing with insecurities each time I spoke to another person. Let's not even get started on trying to get girls.  I thought I was hopeless damned to be stuck with my entire life. Its still hard and same to have conversations with new friends until I feel attached or comfortable with them. anyway, I hope one day i can change myself better than yesterday and living in abroad helps me with my social anxiety overcome.

bharani Dharan Arunagiri

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Might sound extremely weird, however, I used to be terrified calling to make appointments and asking for information or even ordering food.It would always reach an extent where I would rather go to whatever place to ask for whatever I need face-to-face, until I realized how inefficient and time consuming it might be, especially now during the global pandemic. In reality, I never overcame it, but rather learnt how to tame that anxiety! I didn't use any specific tips from someone or somewhere, just simply said to myself “I have to because no one else will do it for me”. Other helpful tools include online registering, written based customer support and writing down the main points for calling in case the anxiety kicks in and I forget.

-Monika Vasiliauskaitė

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This was my huge challenge after facing 12th grade board exams in my country (India), so I was feeling all the negative things and especially the huge mistake I made was listening advice from those who already faced this interview (so never do it), but at a point I really started to treat my "want" as my "need", and started to find some good videos in youtube that builds my confidence level up and all I really did was practice,practice,practice.Now here Im in Lithuania :D
- Shonakshi Senthil Bharathi Geetha

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Student Visa Interview Question & Answers Tips  | Visa Process |  how to get visa

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Everybody knows this weird situations, you meet new people exchange some short sentences followed by long uncomfortable silence.
I was so fed up that this happend to me from time to time but didn't know how to fix it.
In Austria every 18 year old male has to serve in the army  or in social service.
My duty was to work as a paramedic. Therefor I met new people from all different age groups every day and eventually managed to master smalltalk. :D
- Elias Boegl

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Performing at prom (hundred-days left in school) 

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Performing at prom (hundred-days left in school) 

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I was chosen by choreographer to be one of the four main characters. My mission was to perform in front of every single classmate, their parents, school teachers, community members. At rehearsals everything was fine, but once I saw how much people was there in the hall - I was terrified. I started to shake, mumble, but when lights went on and I could not see a thing (basically because I have really bad vision, so lights just added to that). That was my win, since I could not see people and their faces I was able to perform without mumbling, shaking and thinking about what I need to do so I would not fail. It was amazing night ! 💕
Vaida Liudvikauskaitė

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I believe I am not the only one who faced this fear. This is the fear of driving practice exam. There is a lot of talk in our country about driving exams and those examiners who really put that fear on all drivers. People go to this place called Regitra to pass a theory and practical exam and get a driver's license. However, there are many stories about those examiners who look angry and sometimes try to mislead you. I believe I have not heard many such situations alone, so it was very scary for me, like many young people, to go for a practical driving test. That fear was on my mind until the last minute before I got in the car. I suceeded to pass my exam from the first try, but there are thousands of kids, who, through their fear, pass it after 5th, 6th or even 7th try.. The only advice is not to come to Regitra badly and just think positively. Much depends on our mind and mood. There are also many videos about the driving practice exam, with common mistakes and tips on how to avoid it.
Miglė Vėlyvytė

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQWLN1ciu44&ab_channel=REGITRA

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I used to really struggle with anxiety when speaking a new language, until I finally learned to overcome my fear by realizing that speaking perfectly was overrated! Here are a few tips that were helpful to me!
-Dr. Smith

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Learning a foreign language should be fun and interesting, not stressful! It may seem intimidating when you begin to say your first words in a foreign language and that's natural, you're stepping outside one of life's major comfort zones! But this is a good thing, and you must try and see it that way. Learning a language is a journey in knowledge and thought, and on your journey you'll encounter things that really satisfy you as well as those that intimidate you, or frustrate you. The key thing to remember though, is that it's all part of it. There are certain things you can do on your path to learning a foreign language that will make you feel more comfortable and less fearful. Here's a list of 5 things that you can factor into your learning that will help you overcome the fear of speaking in a foreign language.

How to overcome the fear of speaking in a foreign language:

Focus on the journey, not the destination

Learning is an infinite journey, we can never know everything or come anywhere near, and if you are truly seeking to improve your knowledge then admitting this is the first step. It's about the process, not the result - the journey rather than the end product that you hope to achieve. That's not to say that you don't need to set objectives, though, but rather to enjoy yourself as you work towards them rather than focusing entirely on the end product. Every little thing you do is another step, and matters, it's not just about the destination, but the journey also. When learning a language, you may have an end product in mind already, which is fine! But don't let the fear of speaking in a foreign language give you anxiety over achieving it quickly. This will happen in its own time and the best thing you can is work step-by-step towards it, whilst focusing on each step you take.

Honesty is universally recognised, if you speak honestly with a true intention, and are seen to try your honest best when speaking, then the reception will more often than not be a good one. It really is true that honesty is the best policy and it's something we must practice when speaking foreign languages as well in in life itself! Be open about your ability, and how it's a work in progress. Don't worry about trying to speak honestly though! Because by trying in your own natural, people will recognise it in you! People will respect that, as no-one starts off good at something, we must all learn.

Start thinking in foreign language

That may seem peculiar at first, as when we consciously engage our brain in speaking a foreign language we are still often translating back into our own native one. It's difficult to overcome this, but it will happen, and you can help yourself think in a foreign language by reading texts, literature, or posts online that relate to you. Watching films in a foreign language that you know very well can be a great way of exposing your mind to phrases you're familiar with in the foreign language you're learning. Over time you'll develop a second state of thought - one where you find yourself actually thinking in a foreign language. This allows you to use more thinking power to focus on speaking the language, as you're using less translating information into your own! It sounds strange, but it will happen spontaneously.

Simple thoughts

When you begin to speak a foreign language you should keep it simple. Not only does it help others to understand you, but it will prevent you from getting confused with ambiguous words that may have multiple levels of meaning. Try and keep your speaking concise and focused. That's not to say that you can't step outside the box and try and add complex words into your vocabulary early on, but be mindful of how you're using them and compare them to real world examples.

Let perfectionism go

It can be tempting to be overly critical, working through smaller things that you don't quite understand. Indeed, it can be hard to move on when you're stuck on something you find tricky, but overall, it's not a problem. It's more productive to let perfectionism go and be content with what you have and what your learning currently extends to. If you find something tricky then it's a simple rule to move on, and you'll probably come back to it and find it a lot easier! If you get caught up trying to make something perfect, then it may cost you time and frustration! The other thing to remember is that no speakers speak perfectly! You don't need to be absolutely spot on to convey a sentence and communicate, and your imperfections will brush themselves up over time anyway. Be content as, after all, nothing and no one is perfect!

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Also published on Medium.

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5 Steps to Overcome the Fear of Speaking in a Foreign Language - Bilingua

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Learning a foreign language should be fun and interesting, not stressful! It may seem intimidating when you begin to say your first words in a foreign language and that's natural, you're stepping outside one of life's major comfort zones! But this is a good thing, and you must try and see it that way.