Is fear good or bad? Or is that a misleading question?
There was a brand popular in the 90s and early 2000s: No Fear. It exemplified the "alternative lifestyle" and "extreme sports" ethos of daring, skill, and not giving a f***. It was Nike's "Just Do It" taken to the next level.
No Fear appeals to the macho, adrenaline-craving side of its target market. The brand has since slid into obscurity for the most part, as this attitude is no longer cool. It's not sensitive enough. It fails to let people wallow in their fears and insecurities, both of which are supposedly part of their authentic selves.
But is this ever really an attitude to adopt? If fear is bad, then no fear is the way to go right?
Fear is not just one thing. Our vocabulary fails to make the distinction between fear that is good and necessary, and fear that is harmful and unwanted.
There is physiological fear and psychological fear.
The perception of danger first triggers physiological fear. It's your body and brain doing what it does to keep you alive. Sharpen your senses, direct your focus to the danger, get your muscles ready to act fast and strong. All the better to keep you away from impending death.
That's a good thing. It keeps you alive in extremis, It keeps you from taking dangerous risks you aren't yet ready for. It motivates you to prepare as best you can for circumstances that scare you.
Not only is physiological fear necessary to keep you alive, it is also good for you to perform at your best. In any situation that matters, there is some element of risk. That risk may be physical, financial, or emotional. But if it matters, there's some risk, and physiological fear keeps you sharp.
But physiological fear carries along an unwanted friend: psychological fear.
Physiological fear if left untended or kept undisciplined triggers psychological fear. Psychological fear is your mind magnifying the threat, replaying it over and over and focusing on all the reasons why you can't do this.
You can't prevent physiological fear, and you don't want to. It's necessary. But you can prevent psychological fear. Doing so is a matter of learned skill and intentional discipline.
It's really about the "experience of fear" versus the "emotion of fear".
Tightrope walker Nik Wallenda has walked across Niagara Falls (more precisely the Horseshoe Falls, the big, wide, arcing falls), across the Grand Canyon, and across the mouth of an active volcano. He's grown up on the wire, learning from his parents how to walk the tightrope since he was still a toddler. He does amazing stunts dealing with not only heights but also challenges with wind, water, toxic gases that threaten both meat and metal, and more.
Here's a man many would say has no fear. He's prove it with his many incredible accomplishments.
But he still feels fear and writes about it in his books. The fear he feels is physiological fear. He has the experience of fear. His body and brain tell him he's doing something dangerous, so his heart rate goes up and adrenaline courses through his body. He needs it to be at his best.
What he doesn't get is psychological fear. He doesn't let the emotion of fear settle in, or even get a foothold.
The way he does it is a combination of using mental performance skills long-since ingrained into him and a deliberate decision to acknowledge the physiological fear and then put it aside.
He says outright he never wants to get rid of the experience of fear, but he must keep away the emotion of fear.
No Fear is a goal for the immature and uninformed. It has surface appeal that fails to stand up to either reason or experience.
And yet Roosevelt's admonition, "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear" fails to tell you how to actually act despite fear.
Understanding there is a difference between the experience of fear, physiological fear, and the emotion of fear, psychological fear, is your starting point.
Fear keeps us not only from doing great things, but even little things. Fear keeps us not only from doing what is daring, but also what is seemingly mundane.
There's a reason why God tells us in Scripture again and again to not fear. How can you control your fear and not be afraid? You can control your psychological fear. You can overcome or even deflect the emotion of fear. That is something you have control over.
If you're going to live your potential, if you're going to do all that God has in store for you, if you're going to truly be who you are meant to be, you must overcome many fears. Knowing the difference between one type of fear that is good and necessary, and the other that is unwanted and harmful is the beginning of being able to consistently overcome fears old and new.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Yπερνικᾶτε ἐν Χριστῷ. "Let us go be more than conquerors in Christ"