Fear, like any other feeling and reaction, has many dimensions. In this essay, I will look at fear as negative (in the sense of brake), and fear as positive (in the sense of stimulus). Undoubtedly, we can take on other dimensions, but I pay special attention to this bipolar dynamics, because at the household level it can help us or stop our development, so take the following lines as encouragement to act or a choice to calm your life. .
Contents:
- What is fear – definitions;
- When fear interferes;
- When fear helps;
- Motivation and conclusion.
What is Fear – Definition
Table of Contents
To understand something, we must first define. The term “fear” is used in psychology and evolutionary theory, so let me quote their official definitions:
According to the science of psychology: “Fear is an emotion induced by perceived danger or threat, which causes physiological changes and ultimately behavioral changes, such as mounting an aggressive response or fleeing the threat. Fear in human beings may occur in response to a certain stimulus occurring in the present, or in anticipation or expectation of a future threat perceived as a risk to oneself. The fear response arises from the perception of danger leading to confrontation with or escape from/avoiding the threat (also known as the fight-or-flight response), which in extreme cases of fear (horror and terror) can be a freeze response or paralysis. “
Anxiety: “An emotion characterized by apprehension and somatic symptoms of tension in which an individual anticipates impending danger, catastrophe, or misfortune. The body often mobilizes itself to meet the perceived threat: Muscles become tense, breathing is faster, and the heart beats more rapidly. Anxiety may be distinguished from fear both conceptually and physiologically, although the two terms are often used interchangeably. Anxiety is considered a future-oriented, long-acting response broadly focused on a diffuse threat, whereas fear is an appropriate, present-oriented, and short-lived response to a clearly identifiable and specific threat.”
When Fear Intrude
This is the aspect that is perhaps most discussed in pop culture, in business training materials, at school, in textbooks for various people, and more recently it has been speculated on by fraudsters for “business development and coaching”. When we remove the half-truths, fear only hinders when it presses the brakes on our lives.
Fear always bothers you when you are not given a chance to think about whether it is wise to cross a line.
In this example, there is a marketing trick with sellers and that is to evoke anxiety over time: “Get this product now before time runs out!”. This is a tactic that is based on our basic instincts, a provocation to worry that something will end without giving you time to think about whether you need this product, service, or whatever is being advertised (this approach can even be seen in your relationships with people: “Don’t miss the chance to be friends with this person”).
Fear interferes when you intensify it.
“Eyes of fear are big”, always emphasize giving more energy in a negative aspect. When you think too much or give in to the fear of being overwhelmed, then it does not even fulfill its function of protecting you from danger, but obsesses you in paranoia, insecurity, seeking too much comfort, which is often a degenerating direction of life.
When Fear Helps
Thank God there is fear. As much as you are afraid of fear, fear is one of your main catalysts. You can decide and choose – fear as a brake or fear as an engine. We all know about the brake, but little is said about the engine.
It is the engine and “thank God for the fear”, because this is one of the few incentives that will take you out of the “gray everyday life”, “comfort zone”, “track”, “everything is fine”.
The world obeys rules, but before the rules there is a way out of comfort and construction. This is what fear provides: getting out of your mental barriers of “I won’t do it because I’m fine.” Maybe you know what you are missing in such thinking? Besides the Boogeyman, fear provides a chance for dreams, fantasies, ideas, realization and what not.
Who claims that he is not afraid – maybe there may be such cases, but how many are there? Fear is an evolutionary response to the instinct for self-preservation that keeps you from the “hot plate” so you don’t burn your hands. But in life situations, this hotplate can sometimes be a situation that requires a firm decision and pursuit of a goal, and in this case fear keeps you as it should, but it is your choice whether to stay at the animal level or as ancient philosophers once believed – man to be something much more than his own instincts.
When you are afraid of something, this is the crossroads you need to stop and think about.
Good examples of jumping over the threshold of fear for constructive purposes can be found in:
- The music: the stage fever. Anyone who learns an instrument and wants to appear in front of an audience, and in addition to people with a natural demeanor without fear of the audience, others must be trained to be able to perform their musical work with precision, accuracy and possible least mistakes. Like any event with an audience, anxiety can affect the quality of performance. Especially important are classical performances, in which one wrong note can spoil the feeling of synchrony of an entire symphony orchestra.
- Sports: fear of failure. Take a look at Olympic sports (and not only): athletes with many years of training, hard work, effort. They have to show the best of themselves both in the qualifications for the Olympics and in the competition itself, they strive for an almost perfect result in front of an audience, judges and colleagues, other professionals.
- Writing: “the fear of the white sheet.” For anyone who writes, this is perhaps the most famous phrase he came across when he was interested in how to improve the expression of his ideas in writing. The White Paper has become a byword for the excessive freedom of the mind that suffocates in its own creativity, but if this was a real reason not to write, then the greatest literary works in human history would not emerge the world.
- Science: fear of the unknown. Of course, science! If one succumbed to one’s instinctive fear of the “dark, the unknown, and the terrible,” one would not go down to the Mariana Trench or try to explore the cosmos; he would not look for cures for dangerous diseases, he would not even have a basic knowledge of anatomy (because in the past, when they were just being described, someone still had to dissect the human body and examine it with his hands and see it with his eyes, to describe it and not be afraid while doing it). There are too many examples in science, but it is a fact that the curiosity to explore the unknown is to cross the line of fear and horror.
When fear looks you in the eye, look it back – let it be your springboard, motivation and goal to overcome yourself.
Fear helps to draw the “start of the race”, it is almost always an indicator of when it is time to make a choice, and perhaps most importantly: it is a great motivator. to turn anxiety into development enthusiasm. It should always be taken sensibly, no matter how spontaneously a person wants to draw his course of action.
When fear comes, ask yourself, “What am I afraid of and why, and how can fear help me realize the causes so that I can improve them if necessary?”
Motivation and Conclusion
After all the examples from the previous chapter, what better motivation, that with reason and the experience of fear, is almost always a good prerequisite for the greatest masterpieces and discoveries in human history and perception.
I hope you have given enough to look at the fear from another angle and still always act wisely (I constantly emphasize reasonableness, it is an indication of growth; impulsivity often leads down steep paths from which one can suffer too much).
That is, when you are afraid, this is your crossroads. Stop, think, give yourself some time. Big decisions always cause fear: you still face the unknown future and consequences.
Author: Dimo Vasilev
