To you, my best friend!
Fear is not weakness! Fear is an illusion! Feel the fear and do it anyway - Susan Jeffers
THE PERSONAL As a little child, I was bullied emotionally by my social environment. I had a different behaviour than most of my classmates and friends. This earned me many nicknames and some were not empowering for a 10 years old. One of my first nicknames was Creature because I was expressing my feelings a lot. I screamed, I cried, and I was getting angry very fast. Looking at my past, you would expect me to grow up afraid of connections and with many fears. And I had and have, but I learned that fear is an asset. Fear is an instinct as old as life. Fear is natural and it is a survival skill. We can not stop the reaction happening in our body, but we can choose how we act on the outside. I was told growing up that fear is a weakness. That strong people are not afraid. This is a BRULE (Bull..it rule). Strong means that you embrace your fears not that you run from them. This is precisely what I plan to do in the next lines.
After all how bad can it be to face fear?
My fear of success. I had/have this one for many years without even knowing it. Something has always stopped me from stepping into the spotlight. In school, I was one of the best in all of my classes, but I never had the guts to make the next step. I followed my dreams, and I have the job that I aimed at. On the way, I felt that I was missing something. It was not the professional success but the personal success. I was afraid to be a leader until I became one. Good people around me saw in me what I couldn’t. This made me question if I have a natural feeling and skills to become someone that can lead and influence lives. This is what I am trying to do now. I do hope to find out soon the answer or learn how to enjoy the journey more because at this point in time I have many moments of confusion.
THE SCIENCE As well as me, you have fears but have you ever wondered where do they come from? According to some scientists fear is either learned or innate. For example, when you have suffered a severe burn, you may become afraid of fire. This is a learned fear. On the other hand, you might be afraid of an octopus even if you have never seen one alive or touched one. This fear is called an innate fear. But what if fear is an illusion? In the rubber hand experiment scientists have proved how easy the brain can be fooled. In this experiment, the brain of the participant triggered a fear response when the rubber hand was hit with a hammer. Let me repeat. The brain was tricked to believe that the rubber hand was a part of the body and reacted when the rubber hand was hit with a hammer. So, what does this tell us about our fears? Maybe we have them, or perhaps we just imagine them.
THE PHILOSOPHY But are we the only ones that feel fear? Certainly not. Fear is as old as life. It is considered a natural response to a threat. It has kept many animals and implicit our ancestors alive. But do we really need it as much as them? Do we have cave lions waiting to attack us at each corner? We don’t, but our brain is still young, and we still have this constant state of alert. When something goes wrong, your brain amplifies the situation and goes on the flight or fight mode. Unconsciously, it can not tell if the danger is small or big. It is all the same. Only by awareness, we can acknowledge the signal and assess whether the threat is real and take appropriate actions.
The fight or flight signal is normal and natural. To try and stop it is like trying to stop an ice cream melt in the middle of the summer. I would eat that ice cream and enjoy the flavour. After all how bad can it be to face fear? When the outcome of the positive vs the negative is above zero, I would call it an improvement. PS: Below I left you a poetry snack I see fear in the eyes of death That oath to survive life Is going to waste If not put at rest The thought that fogs The beautiful sight Of you Love and joy. In the end
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Art yourself,
The Bug.