The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Actress Emilia Fox

ACtReSS emilia Fox, 43, is the daughter of actors edward Fox and Joanna David and sister of actor Freddie Fox. She has starred in BBC drama Silent Witness since 2004. Divorced, she lives in london and has a daughter Rose, seven.

BE A WARRIOR NOT A WORRIER

AFTER 20 years I now realise I do a job that largely relies on fear and adrenaline. These aren’t things I welcome at all! I have terrible nerves before a play or big post-mortem scenes in Silent Witness, where I have to remember medical terms. They often feel like exam days to me.

I have a fear of the unknown, yet picked the most precarious profession ever. Acting has enormous highs, but there are lows, too. It’s a gambler’s mentality.

I cope by preparing as much as I can. I never dreamt I’d go on a show like Bear Grylls: Mission Survive, where I was thrown out of a helicopter, had to eat a live scorpion and drink my own wee in a Costa Rican rainforest. But before filming I went privately to Hounslow Urban Farm and held spiders and snakes so I didn’t feel afraid of them out there.

I also worry about my parents getting older. At 43, I’m at an in-between age. My mum has dealt with Meniere’s disease [a disorder of the inner ear] and in the mid-Nineties she had an operation to cure a brain condition that had damaged her spinal cord.

A few years ago my dad had a health scare where he ended up in hospital, which was frightening, though he’s fine now. But it makes you aware of your own mortality and where you are in life.

In my 30s I started working with a therapist when I was going through major changes [Emilia divorced actor Jared Harris in 2010] which was helpful for mental fitness.

Therapy can help you look at situations from different angles. It gives you a greater understanding of why you’ve made life choices you have — and that you have a choice about your future. When I feel anxious my mind jumps from one thing to another. My therapist helps me focus on one thing at a time and put it into perspective. He said something I now use as a coping mechanism — face fear as ‘a warrior and not a worrier’.

Hopefully you can convert your fear into something positive that brings extra edge and energy to your life.

eMiliA is working with AXA PPP healthcare on its own Your Fears campaign (axappphealthcare.co.uk/ ownyourfears).