Fear. It's an odd feeling that comes from many different things: scary movies, the dark, strange noises, loneliness, the ocean, spiders, etc. In that large list of possible fears, comes a large hunk of steel or wood, and rightly so. Taking a plunge of perilous heights and attaining un-Godly speeds are anything but comforting with nothing but a bit of padding holding you in. Conquering the fear of roller coasters is just like conquering every other fear: facing it. Whether they want to admit it or not, everyone that's ridden a roller coaster has been afraid of them at some point in their life. So how do you become one of those daring fools who attack the tallest and fastest coaster in the world? How do you even defeat a small 80 foot high wooden coaster?
It's perfectly natural to deny the fact that fear has over-taken you when you see the beasts of thrills. "Oh, I'm tired. I'll just wait. You guys go ahead." That's a perfectly useful, and can even be truthful, response. But what if you actually want to get on them? Let's look at the different aspects that cause the fear on roller coasters.
First up is the simple fear of heights. There are innumerable amounts of people with this fear. How do you conquer it? Face it. Now, that's not to say go up to the Empire State Building and lean over the edge. Try smaller rides at first, not roller coasters. Work your way up to say, 50 foot rides (such as swinging ships.) Then take your first punch at a roller coaster. A family coaster works well here, usually one that's 50 feet or shorter in height. Obviously, you'll be afraid, given the fact that you're 50 feet in the air with a few steel tubes or wooden planks holding you up and a small bar holding you in your seat. That's when the fear and adrenaline take over. Succumb to the adrenaline more so than the fear. Pump yourself up and breathe deeply and hold on tight. After it's over, you'll realize that you're still alive, and one of two things will happen: 1) you'll be extremely happy that you've conquered your fear and will move on to a higher roller coaster, or 2) you won't be quite ready to have your heart explode from adrenaline over-dose so you'll wait and ride the smaller coaster a few more times before you move up to the next stage.
Secondly, there is a fear of falling. Some may get confused and think it's the same as having a fear of heights, but it is not quite the same. A person with a fear of falling has no problem going to the roof of a 20 story building, just so long as there is solid ground with no view directly below them. A person with a fear of heights just plain doesn't like to be on the roof of a 20 story building. To conquer this fear of falling, all you have to do is face it. Again, that's not to say go sky-diving. Just like with a fear of heights, start with small jumps or rides. A good type of ride to get to is called a magic carpet ride (example: DaVinci's Cradle at Busch Gardens Europe). The whole ride is built on the sensation of falling. And once you work yourself up to ride something small such as a magic carpet ride, it's really not that hard to work yourself up to that family roller coaster. Just take it step by step, and again, when you start to realize how little material is keeping you where you are, succumb to the adrenaline more than the fear. Be happy and exhilarated rather than scared and fogged. Now, a lot of people think closing your eyes helps with this. For some people it works, for others it doesn't. An advantage to keeping your eyes open is you know where the track is going and how far you have left to fall, whereas if your eyes are closed, everything is unknown.
Lastly, there is a fear of turbulence or being jerked and thrashed around without control. How do you conquer this fear? You guessed it: face it. Take it step by step. Work your way from something like a Scrambler to a top spin (example: the Crypt at Kings Dominion). Once you can get on something like a top spin or a Tilt-A-Whirl, you're good as gold because modern roller coasters don't jerk you around nearly as much as those flat rides do. There is considerably more wind blowing you back, but just take the baby steps and walk before you run. Take yourself to that 50 foot family coaster and see how that works. And when the wind pushes your hair back and it becomes a bit hard to breathe, again, succumb to that feeling of adrenaline. The fear of being upside down falls under this category as well, and the way to conquer that one is to realize that you're upside down for a fraction of a second each inversion. If a coaster has 6 inversions, you're upside down about 5 seconds compared to the 2 and a half minute entirety of the ride.
The hardest part of overcoming your fear of roller coasters is getting that head start; that push in the right direction; that first left foot forward. Once you get that first foot, the second follows naturally. Next thing you know, you're running full-tilt at beasts 300 and 400 feet tall, or towards monsters with 6, 7, or 8 inversions, and you're laughing while you're doing it. Just remember one thing, when you get that fleeting happiness cresting the lift hill on that 200 + foot height mark, hold your hands up and think, "I am afraid, and I like it."