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I took a teaching position on a whim and I was deathly afraid of public speaking. The first 3 classes or so I just about had a panic attack before each class. However by the end of the semester everything was running smooth and I'm no longer afraid of public speaking in any context.

Overcoming irrational fears is a huge part of personal development.

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This is a great example, I am just trying to understand why this works and what is scientifically behind this ?

I sometimes wear contact lenses. When I first started wearing them it took me over an hour to get them in. It was so hard to keep my eye open and put the lens in.

Over the weeks and months I slowly got better at it. Now I can literally touch my finger to my eyeball without flinching. The exact scientific reason for that, I don't know, but I did train my brain to stop reflexively closing my eyes when I go to touch them.

Without a lens on my finger touching my eye actually hurts a little -- so there is a good reason for that reflex in the first place.

Exposure therapy is fairly well studied: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_therapy

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