Fear can have two meanings:
Forget Everything And Run
or
Face Everything And Rise.
fear
[ˈfir] NOUN
an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat
Fear is a natural and universal emotion experienced by everyone at some point, or daily. It arises with the threat of harm or danger, either physical, emotional, or psychological. Fear can be real or imagined, but regardless of that if feels real!
We are born with only two innate fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud sounds called “your acoustic startle reflex”. Which means that all other fears are learned. We learn them through observation (watching mom scream at a spider teaches us they are scary) or association (getting bit by a dog can teach you to fear dogs). Over time, more experiences can lead to more fears.
And sometimes we like it? I personally don’t enjoy horror films, but the Halloween movie franchise has produced 13 films and grossed over $850m worldwide at the box office. Folks love to experience fear and will pay for the opportunity.
So what explains my love of rollercoasters. I have no fear of heights, but I have a healthy fear of falling, that innate fear. They are not the same! They even have different medical terms – fear of heights is acrophobia and the fear of falling is basiphobia. So why do I go on those dang rollercoasters?
There have been plenty of studies done over the years and it boils down to thrill-seeking can release dopamine, the happy brain stuff. The more reward / dopamine the more you do it, and the more you survive dangerous stuff, the more you prove it isn’t dangerous.
Can you overcome fears? Continued exposure has shown that folks can overcome some fears, or at least increase our tolerance. But remember, fear isn’t necessarily a bad thing – sometimes running for your life is literal.
If Only Quotes:
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light. -Plato
The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. -H. P. Lovecraft
He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. -Ralph Waldo Emerson
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. -Nelson Mandela
You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind. -Dale Carnegie
And the most famous quote: The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. – Franklin D. Roosevelt
Some fear can be debilitating. Fear over unknown results, for example, can cause you to shrink from doing certain things in business. What I have found helpful to me is reading the book “The Power of Unwavering Focus.” It helped me to understand that any fear in my mind is different than my awareness of it. I can control where my awareness goes. This has helped me stop myself from going down that dark path when I start to feel afraid.