Fear! Should we be afraid?

What is the thing you fear the most? And you shall see it is the lack of control.

“Who is more foolish, the child who is afraid of the darkness, or an adult who is afraid of the light.” -Maurice Freehill

Fear! Such a natural emotion, we all have. But what a dichotomy it is. Though we all have this emotion we try to limit, if not get rid of it. Yet we seek it. We build theme parks dedicated to the prospect of inducing fear in us. We create entertainment with fear in bedded in it to entertain us. What is it about fear that we feel so strongly about?

We fear to stand in front of crowds; we fear the unknown, the future; we fear the pain of loss whether that be physical or metaphysical. Fear has always been and will always be, though the form it takes will forever be changing. Our ancient ancestors fear the dark, for they did not know what hid in the shadows; our for-fathers feared the bullets crackling pass their heads, for they did not know which one had their name; we fear the tentacles of failure, for what would others think of us.

“Fear defeats more people than any other thing in the world.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are far too many aspects of fear to list. Yet a few persist, to be in our lives. We fear that which we do not know and fear the loss of control. We must remember that fear is not our enemy to vanquish, but our guide that we ought to listen to. It tells us what to be aware of and what not to.

“Courage is knowing what not to fear.” -Plato

In order for fear not to influence our actions, we must tackle the source of our fear and start to regain our control. It is not the control of the source that should be the goal, but to understand it. At times we may found ourselves in situations that we can not hope to gain control over, but if we understand our limits, we can start to gain control of ourselves.

“Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.” -Napoleon Hills

Why be afraid of that which you have no control over? You cannot change it. What you do have control of is yourself. Fear is not physical, it’s just our thoughts, our emotions. We may not be able to control the situation but can learn to control our emotions and thoughts.

“Fear is the mother of foresight.” -Thomas Hardy

Fear has kept us safe from danger for millennia but also limited our progress. We often view fear as weakness, a taboo. But we are all afraid of something. It can be a tool as much as a hindrance. It can drive us, it can motivate us, even turn us into something better (or worse if you let it). All of this rests on our shoulders, we must face our fears. Understand our limits and learn to control our emotions.

Fear tells us to be cautious when we tread into the unknown, it tells us to focus on what we want. It does not tell us to stop; to surrender; to give up. It is us who do that! Not fear. So be brave. Face your fear, learn from it and let it take you where you desire.

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” -Mark Twain

Thank you for taking the time to read my article, I hope you enjoyed it and learnt something.