My son was born last week.

And among all the amazing feelings I have been experiencing, fear is one of them. It’s a different kind of fear, but I realised something.

Last week, I published an article about having two different personalities — the Czech one and the English one - and how you can actually shape your second identity while learning English, as you work with a different part of your brain, avoiding the centre of fear that is affected by all emotions and childhood memories.

When I feel fear in Czech, my Amygdala (the brain's alarm system) is screaming. but when I switch to English, I am literally forcing my brain to use the Prefrontal Cortex. It’s like moving from a dark, chaotic room into a brightly lit office. In English, I have the ‘tools' to analyze the fear instead of just feeling it.

I believe you can do that, too. Take on this challenge:

Next time you feel anxious about something in your personal life, stop. Set a timer for 2 minutes and try to describe that worry only in English (out loud, in your head or in your journal). Does the fear feel smaller? Does it feel more like a 'problem to solve' rather than a 'disaster to survive'?

Let me know in the comments. 😊