I very much agree with Anne and scorpiosis in "do it anyway". It's a lot like motivation (something else I periodically struggle with) - if we wait for it to arrive before we start acting constructively, it is quite likely that we'll be stuck for a long time and just become more anxious due to not accomplishing the things that we would like and plan to. Fear, of course, exists for a good protective reason but it is really not that well-regulated by the brain and by the complex interactions between the self and environment. It is useful to understand where our specific fears come from but analyzing it endlessly and putting things on hold before we figure out how to potentially cope with it better is a very sterile endeavor in my experience that mostly leads to lost opportunities and regrets.

I think dealing with anxiety and fear benefits well from a healthy dose of conscious dissociation - meaning recognizing but ignoring the emotions and focusing on the action and executing what needs to be done (or we would like to do), no matter the feelings. I more often than not find that confidence (and motivation) very effectively arrives on the go, while we are already engaged in the act, and it gets further reinforced by the good feelings coming from overcoming the initial blocks, avoidance, hesitation. I think confidence really needs reinforcement (positive experience) and that cannot be acquired by sitting in a room and merely reflecting and analyzing.

Before I ever got into formal, paid therapy, I had a few years of association with someone who used to be T before retirement. I met him originally in an online peer support community but then we developed a relationship that was somewhere between friendship and mentorship (a type of relationship I have a long history of very positive experiences with). He taught me (or, more precisely, demonstrated by his own example) things like how not to be bogged down by analysis paralysis, how to focus on action when it is necessary rather than thoughts and feelings, how to use anger as a powerful positive motivational force, and a few other extremely useful life skills. Initially, I decided to try therapy inspired by his influence on me, hoping to maybe find similar in formal therapy (as he was an ex-T), but it never happened. What did happen though is me picking up the strategies and even emotional attitude from him and integrating it into mine gradually but very naturally and almost effortlessly. That guy and myself had a lot in common in personality and life experience, so recognizing the helpful coping strategies and adapting them was pretty easy, especially after some success with it. I could, in principle, imagine finding the same in a therapist that I hire, but it just has not happened in spite of looking at/interviewing many. I think it would be hard though because what was so useful is seeing how that guy managed his own life, less so analyzing my own life with him. So much easier to scan my normal social environment and spot new people who inspire me in similar way. There are actually quite a lot, often I don't even need to know them personally and interact directly, they can be authors, public figures, or just ordinary people I see around me.