What is Fear…
A Perspective on Fear
Fear is a natural emotion that alerts us to the presence of danger, whether it is real or not. It is one of the seven universal emotions experienced by everyone around the world.
Fear arises when the threat of harm is present be it, physical, emotional, or psychological, real or imagined. It’s generally considered a “negative” emotion, but fear can actually serve an important role in keeping us safe; as it enables us to cope with potential danger.
One thing we have come to understand is fear is an emotion, an experience, something we go through and that experience creates the fear, and that emotion creates varying degrees of intensity and with that intensity creates the level of fear we experience. When faced with it, It can be broken down and understood in three factors: the trigger, the intensity, and the duration. But from this, there are further 7 mental state emotions that one goes through off the 3 initial triggers. The 7 mental states which we need to speak about; because at some point we all go through these which derive from the 3 initial triggers and they tend to follow as……One thing we have come to understand is fear is an emotion, an experience, something we go through and that experience creates the fear, and that emotion creates varying degrees of intensity and with that intensity creates the level of fear we experience. When faced with it, It can be broken down and understood in three factors: the trigger, the intensity, and the duration. But from this, there are further 7 mental state emotions that one goes through off the 3 initial triggers. The 7 mental states which we need to speak about; because at some point we all go through these which derive from the 3 initial triggers and they tend to follow as……
The Procrastinator
This is the fear of taking action and making decisions, often leading to missed opportunities
The Rule Follower
This is the fear of breaking the rules or not following the norm, leading to a lack of creativity and innovation
The People Pleaser
This is the fear of disapproval and not being liked, often leading to weak boundaries and putting others’ needs before one’s own
The Outcast
This is the fear of rejection and being left out, often leading to a lack of social connection and isolation
The Self-Doubter
This is the fear of failure and not being good enough, often leading to a lack of confidence and self-esteem
The Excuse Maker
This is the fear of taking responsibility and being accountable, often leading to blame-shifting and avoiding ownership of one’s actions
The Pessimist
This is the fear of the worst-case scenario and negative outcomes, often leading to a lack of hope and optimism.
There is a tremendous sense of understanding that needs to be had when confronting fear. You have to understand that fear only lives by our own sense of self, the fear of the unknown, the situation we find ourselves in, or the fear of the dark or something of this manner, etc….
Now … .Read that again and understand this…What I’m trying to tell you is that it is you that gives fear its power, nothing more. Yes, we need fear to put particular situations in perspective, but don’t get me wrong overall it’s not our friend, But at the same token it’s also a healthy experience that one needs to understand. But then again it’s also there to hinder us. At this point I know what you’re saying, This isn’t making any sense! Bear with me and read on it will all start to make a crazy bit of sense.
It is important to understand fear to be able to overcome it enabling you to live a life to the fullest
Let’s talk as if of fear….,
Hi….. I’m Fear, I am just one of your emotions, a bit misunderstood, but at the same point, a bit dangerous. I wanted to ask you if it is ok that I can call us friends….” sure I don’t see why not”…excellent…; but I have to be honest and highlight that being friends comes with a bit of a risk as you already know. There are certain conditions … me being fear… I cannot lie about it; even if I need you and want us to be friends. I will not help you and I will show you and make you feel all those things which you don’t want to feel or see, but on the other hand, if you find yourself in danger I will always be there to warn you of that danger. But while I’m warning you of that danger. I can not always be depended on to put you in danger, just to see what you can do. The reason for this is to test you, to build my strength, because unfortunately for me, I need that to survive, and at times; you will need me to survive. I know it’s hard to believe that I put you in a state of unrest and despair, but these emotions are only to feed me, and we are part and parcel of the same vessel we inhabit. Like self-doubt, which you should know by now is a litany of other emotions; one is confidence, I hate her. She always manages to banish me to the recesses of my mind, and then it takes time for me to build my strength again. But enough about me, let me hand you back to you, I will be seeing you soon I hope…Ha ha Ha.
Now are you starting to see the picture…. You have to overcome these fears and learn to banish them; not for good mind you, but to learn to control them. But let me be 100% clear it’s impossible to banish fear for good, what we have to learn to do is work alongside it without allowing fear to override our sense of self.
Start to understand our own mental strength and clarity of understanding for this state of mind, and not let fear control our day-to-day lives through our thoughts, but have control of it. Fear is not the enemy, and it can be healthy to experience it, but also this leads to us becoming fearful of everything in and around us. {Refer back to Hi…I’m Fear}..it needs our fear which gives it strength and power. I have touched on this in the previous paragraphs stating it can help to highlight the potential danger and with that have a knack of overriding our sense of conviction to pursue our goals. Stay on your path of conviction in yourself and conquer your own fears, and the world will open up to you in ways you could have never imagined.
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