Discussion of all aspects of climbing from indoor bouldering to high altitude mountaineering.
Exposure therapy. The more falls you take, the less anxiety you'll feel when facing the next fall.
Unfortunately, the fear comes back over time if you don't take falls, so you need to keep doing it. As they say, if you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough.
thanks! do you think it helps to practice falling, or is it better to just... climb and fall naturally?
Both, really. Practice falls will help for sure, but it's always easier to commit to a voluntary fall.
Being in a situation where you're trying your hardest not to fall is where the fall anxiety really comes out, and pushing through that is a question of practice. The first fall in a session is usually the hardest, and once you've taken that fall, you realize that it's not that bad, and it gets easier to commit.
Lead more, or toprope but ask your belayer to keep a bit more slack once you're up a bit on the wall
It's totally normal to be afraid to fall, especially if you just recently got certified. The best way to overcome that, is get used to that feeling by practicing.
When I started climbing again a few years ago, I made the same conclusion as you: there was a full grade between my top rope and lead climbings. At this point I decided to simply stop doing top rope entirely, to get used to lead. It took months, but it worked great ! I took many falls of course, and sometimes forced myself into trying moves even though I knew I would fall (rather than asking my partner to catch me).
This is the best advice I could give you: only do lead climbing for a few months, until it becomes natural to you, and take a moment after each fall to appreciate how smooth it was :)
And just so you don't feel too bad about it: you will always be scared to fall, it's natural, especially when you're above the clip, and not sure about your move. But at some point, you will simply be confident enough to go over it, and trust your fingers and foot more than your brain!