You’ve been probably told before that fears are bad and that they are nothing but negative feelings we should avoid. Yes it’s true. In fact all of us experienced fear in our lives. I too have fears.
To name a few, I fear that I will lose my job and I’m not yet ready to run my business, I fear that one day things will turn upside down and I will lose everything, I fear that I will fail people depending on me, I fear that I will not be able to marry and I will get old alone, I fear that I will not make any significance in my lifetime.
I actually have endless fears and worries right now and if you tell me you don’t have one, I will smack you.
Of course at the end of the day, it will always boil down to how we respond to our fears and worries. How we respond to fears and worries is what really matter as it’s what’s gonna define whether we are gonna lose sanity or not.
Not all however about fear is negative. There are in fact positive sides of fear if we see them in a positive perspective. Here are three positive views that I think fear can be of use.
1. Helps us be more conscious about our actions
When we fear about consequences of our actions, we may tend to be more careful about it. For instance, if there is no consequence in committing murder or stealing then probably the earth is no longer a safe place to live in. Another example is the fear of getting obese or being unfit is what drives some people to keep eating healthy food or exercising regularly.
2. Enhances our ability to conquer mountains
Fear sometimes help us to conquer boulders in our lives. For instance, some people may fear that they will end up being broke and poor in the future so they save and study how to invest. Some students fear that they will not be able to get a good job if they don’t study well so they overcome their laziness and sacrifice good times.
Fear of losing business is what fuel other companies to advance their technologies, innovate and rethink the way how they do business. Fear can force us to go beyond our comfort zone and enter unknown terrains.
3. Fear can overcome other fears
In addition to number 2, fear can also force us to obtain full potential and overcome other fears. For instance, if we have a dying daughter who is in the hospital and in need of blood donation, our fear of rejection or fear of talking to people would probably not stand in our way to ask for blood donations.
This could mean that bigger fears can force us to conquer smaller fears.
