Fear (noun) — An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat.
Fear is natural and fear is good, but fear also inhibits, it stops us from living our lives, whether it be avoiding one or two scenarios, or being unable to function because it is simply too much. It is best, then, to approach fear, to deny it control over you, and to prove to yourself that it is simply a construct, with no material being or true meaning. Yes, as I said, fear is good, it stops us from doing things that would be considered moronic. I am in fact afraid of falling off of a cliff, and that is by no means a ridiculous thing to be afraid of, but not everything is so justifiable. In fact, most things that insight fear and panic are not. Think about what you are afraid of: Spiders? Heights? Snakes? Airplanes? Dogs? Bananas? Now think about how many situations you avoid because it involves something you are afraid of. The answer: too many. You may be looking at this thinking, “I don’t avoid any situations at all because of it, I wouldn’t do them anyway” or “I only didn’t do this thing or that thing once because I was afraid,” but one avoided situation is too many. In a life so measured and so short in the grand scheme of things the real enemy is avoidance, not fear.
When I was younger I had three big fears: heights, snakes and spiders, I am glad to say I no longer fear them. The first step I took was education; I learned how to tell if snakes were venomous and how to treat snake bites, what spiders were poisonous and where they were, and what safety precautions allow us to safely encounter heights and when heights became a danger. I then took a small step to face my fear. To face my fear of snakes I pet one, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. To face my fear of spiders I found a friend with a pet tarantula, and I helped feed him. It wasn’t that bad either, but may I remind you there is a difference between gross and scary. To face my fear of heights I went cliff jumping, baby edition. I jumped off of a 15-foot “cliff” into a river, and it was exhilarating. I didn’t have to stray far away from my comfort zone to face my fears, and that allowed me to face them. Face your fears in a comfortable setting, with your friends who own spiders, or your cool biology teacher who has a pet snake, or at a river in which you have already swam. The first step is both the easiest and the hardest. You have to face your fear for what may be the first time, but you can also be comfortable and know that it will be ok.
After taking a baby step I decided to take a leap. In facing my fear of snakes, I helped my teacher take care of Jake the Snake, cleaning his tank, feeding him, even letting him slither on my arm and curl up around it, which I found out he did to feel secure. I never thought I would be able to do that, but I had already faced my fear of snakes once, and I knew I would not be harmed if I didn’t provoke him. The combination of education about my fear and experience in confronting it (no matter how small in scale) allowed me to confront it wholly. I held my friend’s pet tarantula, proving to myself that I did not need to fear spiders. Just like snakes, all I needed was to have a healthy reverence. Finally, to bring my fear of heights to a close, I went cliff diving. I ended up diving off of a 50-foot-tall cliff, and then, it’s 100-foot-tall counterpart. I was being safe, and I knew how to be safe, but I also proved to myself heights are nothing to fear. I allowed myself to take a leap because I knew that my fears were simply unjustified. I had nothing to fear save my preconceived notions of what fear was.
Fear is not something to fear. One can argue fear protects, but one can also argue fear inhibits. All in all, fear can easily be replaced by reverence, the knowledge of the dangers of the situation and respect of the power that certain things can exhibit. This allows us to both remain safe in our actions, and not stop ourselves from getting involved in various activities. It all starts with education and baby steps, but in the end, nothing is too large to surmount.
