One of the largest hindrances to man is fear. It is an emotion that can control our actions and our lives. Fear is naturally a good thing. It allows you to understand the idea of possible impending danger or pain, and react through “fight or flight” to prevent it. However, fear can also limit you. Too much of a good thing is not good. Fear is no exception. Although, it plays a key role in self-preservation, it also restricts and imposes on things that we shouldn’t be afraid of. Who can even count the opportunities we missed or didn’t even attempt because we feared the possibility of a danger? (Whether there was or wasn’t any) I look at people and see how fear controls every decision they make and it bothers me severely, that an emotion that is supposedly good, limits these people from reaching their full potential and even prevents them from doing good. When we allow fear to always control us we not only confine ourselves to the extent of the fear, but we also use it as a crutch to justify our non-action.
Basically, it boils down to two types of fear. One is a good beneficial fear, and the other is a negative and non-beneficial fear. In order to live free of this negative fear, one must weigh the risk and the reward of each decision to be made where fear is involve. There is no such thing as a “sure thing” or an object or person that doesn’t fail. So, yes, fear is always present. But the probability of something failing is never sure as well. We could say “the sun has always risen every day so it always will rise” but that would be untrue. We do not know the future and I could then say “what if a sudden cataclysmic event that caused the sun to not rise occurred?” and in that case you would be severely wrong. Does that mean I go to bed at night fearing that the sun won’t raise, no, it just means the probability of the sun rising again seems very good. So the fear of the sun not rising could very well be a negative fear that could hinder me. Therefore, that fear is not a fear I worry about or allow to affect me. We all must think and justify our fear. If I say “fire is hot, and I am afraid to hold my hand over an open flame”. More than likely my hand would get burned and the probability of harm is high. Then that fear seems justified.
I say we need to put fear in it’s place. We need to stop fearing so many things and focus on what we can achieve through them. Fear ultimately is a negative emotion. It says something is bad or harmful. The barriers that we put up are not good ones normally. Although a life without fear would probably be a short lived one, a life full of it I wouldn’t even call living. I have many times let fear impede my better judgment and have missed out on good things because of it. So when my fear lacks justification, I don’t believe it is a beneficial fear.
I love the quotes “with great risk comes great reward”, “if you never try you will never know”, and “what is worth the prize is always worth the fight”. We must analyze each situation and understand the benefits, and see if they outweigh the possible costs. However, we must not over-analyze and start asking “well what if this should happen, and harm me?” as much as we should ask “is risk of possible harm worth not attempting and therefore never knowing the outcome?” we must ultimately weigh the worth of each fearful decision and decide, if the probability of harm exceeds those of the benefits then it is probably a good fear. If not, then why not try? If the goal/prize is worth a possible chance of being harmed, then I say take it.
I say we stop allowing fear to control us, and we control our fear by using logic and knowledge to justify our fears as either legitimate and beneficial, or irrational and unbeneficial. I am not saying be reckless and hazardous, but truly think about the benefits of succeeding and not the negatives and danger of failing. 2012 has just begun, and I say we start living without the negative fear, maybe take a few more calculated chances. Who knows, maybe one of the chances you take will get you the prize after all. One thing is certain, you will never know if you don’t go!
