I'm a big fan of MMA and martial arts in general and have been for a few years now. In fact when I was much younger (from 6-10 years old) I used to do Tae-Kwon Do (International Federation as opposed to the Olympic style) and since then I've also done Wing Chun for a couple of years.

However, since I was younger I've never been able to get over the fear of getting hit. This happens to me in all sports. For example whenever I play football (soccer to the Americans amongst the readers) I flinch if the ball comes at me (particularly at head height). Most recently I found this when I tried out a Muay Thai class at my university and would flinch most of the time when a punch was thrown at my head, even when it was thrown with very little power behind it (though I wouldn't flinch as much if it was to the body).

Note that I'm not scared about pain it seems to always be when something comes towards my head. Does anybody have any tips to getting used to this? I know that there is no proper cure for it but it would be nice if I could reduce the effect. Thanks