F

rom my own experience I have certainly

had plenty to be afraid of. This has
ranged from my school-days when I was
bullied, threatened with knives, spat at and
beaten up, to later on in life when fear was
brought on by the thought of - and taking
part in - tough martial art gradings, full-
contact sparring with professional boxers,
hard training courses and grappling with
European champions.
Fear!
For me, the kind of fear I had as an adolescent,
manifested itself in later life as an anxiety
disorder known as agoraphobia; resulting in
me staying in-doors for much of my early life
and shrinking my comfort zone to the four
waIIs and arden oI my Louse. However, aILer
some years, and plenty of research and help,
I was eventually able to conquer the fear I
had of the outside world and embark upon
my martial arts journey! And in time I then
went on to teach at seminars and opened
my own gym, and applied for membership
as an instructor with possibly one of the
most prestigious self-defence associations
in the world, with some of the worlds top
InsLrucLors, LLIns LLaL wouId mosL deBnILeIy
not have happened to me had I not overcome
my initial fear of being out there in the open
Ior everyone Lo see! EuL LLen LLe Iear oI
being out there changed other fears; fear
that the association wouldnt accept me as
an instructor, and then feeling of fear that
if they did I would have then to prove that I
could instruct, travel and train with some of
the best instructors in the world.
There is always fear!
Throughout life, fear manifests itself in
many ways and in many situations and
circumstances, but in order to survive and
move on, fear must be conquered.
I remember the fear I once had when dealing
with and defeating a drug dealer and his
company of friends, after a dispute lasting
over two years. The drug dealings were
his - not mine - and my dispute against this
man was unconnected to his drug activities;
threats were made to me and my family by
him, and yet his threats were overcome by
me. Face-offs were instigated by him and his
gang, yet by controlling my fear, not showing
fear, and by instilling fear in him and his
gang, those same face-offs were won by me.
I do not wish to sound clever about this, as it
was certainly a very scary time for me but,
wILL reaL dIIBcuILy aL BrsL, I was sIowIy abIe
to disguise my own weaknesses and fears
- of which there were many - until things
eventually came to a head and a full-scale
sLowdown became InevILabIe. 0ne evenIn
they came mob-handed to my house; to the
tune of seven to my two - my two being me
and my wIIe. My Iear was aL an aII LIme LIL,
and all my training in controlling it was
ready Lo Ieave me! EuL I couIdn'L aIIord Lo
IeL LLIs Lappen, LLIs was MY Louse wILL Lwo
young children inside! So I stood my ground
and in return was much more aggressive
and much more threatening to them and it
was quickly apparent that not one of them
Lad wLaL IL Look Lo be BrsL. TLeIr saIeLyIn
numbers pLIIosopLy backBred wLen LLey a)
realised that they couldnt rely on each other,
and b) they could see that I wasnt bothered
about them (although, in reality, nothing was
further from the truth!) and when none of
them met my challenge, they went away with
their tails between their legs.
TLe ouLcome oI LLIs conBIcL was LLaL LLe
dealer and his gang fell out with each other
and separated. The main dealer tried to face
up to me on his own... which caused him to
swiftly move to the other side of the country,
leaving no forwarding address!
Fear!
This show-down was never won by not feeling
Iear everyone IeeIs Iear! EuL LLe sooner Iear
is accepted and recognised, the easier it is to
start learning how to control and overcome
it.
The message of this story is not to try to
impress anyone with my bravado; there was
noL one day wLen I dIdn'L wanL LLe conBIcL Lo
end and there was not one day when I didnt
wake up scared. The message is to show that
if you can be strong and can control and hide
your Iear, unavoIdabIe conBIcL Is oILen won.
Face-to-face situations can be resolved by
controlling fear, taking the initiative, letting
opponents know that any threats would be
met equally, and by not allowing adversaries
to gain the upper hand. It is always best
to avoid confrontation, of course, but if
avoidance isnt an option, deal with it quickly
and move on with your life, drawing from the
experience.
The purpose of this regular column in Robin
EarraLL's TouL TaIk Is Lo demonsLraLe LLaL
with a healthy respect for fear, and by not
allowing it to dominate you and your life,
and linked with the correct hard training,
confrontation can often be won - maybe not
always easily, but won nevertheless.
The situations that you create to better
yourself will always create feelings of fear.
You will tell yourself you are not good enough,
or you dont have the skills or experience, or
you are jusL noL ready! EuL you are wron,
if you are willing to try, to dare to step that
bit further, to work that extra hour, to train
that bit harder and generally put yourself out
there, then the rewards are yours. All the
time, every time! And even just by trying and
daring to be better, you have already passed
more of lifes tests than most people will ever
bother taking.
And the results of me conquering my own
fears have lead me to being a 5th Dan black
belt and owning my own full-time gym and
dojo where I teach people every single day
on how to defend themselves, compete, spar,
wrestle, but most of all how to over-ride
their own fears. I have taught men, women,
cLIIdren, poIIce oIBcers, proIessIonaI boxers,
wrestlers, doormen and security personnel
and have made some great friends.
And II I can do IL... anyone can. EuL I sLIII IeeI
fear... every time!
S
Imon MorreII spenL mosL oI LIs IIIe
suffering in a dark cave of anxiety. As
a child and into his early adulthood, he
was the victim of bullies which escalated
into unprovoked violent assaults. This led
to Simon developing full blown agoraphobia,
panic attacks and a nervous breakdown.
Scared of his own shadow, Simon turned to
the martial arts and karate for some solace,
and it was here he found his path in life.
He became a very successIuI marLIaI arLIsL
and LIs quaIIBcaLIons IncIude beIn a SLL
Dan bIack beIL, a quaIIBed wresLIIn coacL
(EAWA), a FeIsLered BenIor BeIIFroLecLIon
InsLrucLor wILL TLe ErILIsL CombaL
AssocIaLIon and a naLIonaI compeLILor. He Las
attended and successfully completed training
in close protection, surveillance and close
quarLer combaL, and Is LLe CLIeI InsLrucLor
aL EILL EorLress. He Is aIso a member oI
TLe 0IobaI NeLwork oI FroIessIonaI FeaIILy
Eased EILLIn InsLrucLors and In BepLember
2018, Le Lakes LIs LesL Ior 6LL Dan under
AIBe LewIs, one oI LLe worId's mosL Iamous
martial artists that has ever graced the semi-
contact mats. Simon is also the author of
Erom EuIIIed To EIack EeIL and An Everyday
WarrIor. EoLL books are based on LIs IIIe
story and are currently being made into a
IeaLure BIm. AII LIs books are avaIIabIe dIrecL
from his website: ___[QUWVUWZZMTTKWU
Conquering
Your Fears
A regular column by 5th Dan martial artist Simon Morrell on
overcoming and conquering the fear inside you, and achieving what
you previously thought of as impossible.
By Simon Morrell
Simon Morrell Simon Morrell
BprIn 2018 \W]OP\ITSUIOIbQVM 41 40 \W]OP\ITSUIOIbQVM BprIn 2018