Fear and courage
Fear has been an underlying restrictions in human life. Some people have even take it as part of their normal life but is it actually part of our daily life. Yes, because at one point everyday, your mind will be clouded with fear though it might not last for more than 5 seconds but you are bound to face fear everyday. It is going to appear most especially when you least expected.
Some people have defined fear but no matter how simple or complex the definition is, it is always based on the person's definition. So the definition of fear to you might be different to the definition of fear to me but we all give it same name which is fear.
What do you refer to as fear?
You should note that fear is an emotional feeling which can be expressed outwardly like every other emotions and can also be concealed.
The emotion of fear at times miss with the emotion of anxiety but the truth is that anxiety sets in when you could not provide a justification for your fear. You become anxious of the result even when the process had not taken place.
Types of fear
Psychologist and researchers have brought it to limelight that there are two basic type of fear which are fear of failure and fear of rejection.
Fear of failure
Take this as, I can't.
This fear sets in whenever you are about to do something different. Maybe change your discipline, or maybe when you wanted to change career. It also sets in when you want to start a new business or when you wanted to leave your job and start your own business. It even go further to little things like when you wanted to write an exam.
Immediately this fear sets in, the only justification that you will have is, I can't do this. After which your mind will now give you more reasons to make you believe that you cannot do it. You will be presented will as many reasons as possible and each of them will make it look like the only possible outcome is failure.
Do you ever had an idea but it never came to reality?
What happened when you started thinking about executing the idea?
It becomes almost impossible to achieve the goal. That is the fear of failure.
Fear of rejection
Take this as I have to.
Nevertheless, this sounds too good to be a fear but the effects of what you are doing are not justified by your opinion but they are logically structured around what others will say.
This, in most cases, happen in our daily life and sometimes can be combined with the fear of failure.
What will people say if I fail?
What will be the reaction of others if I did not attend?
My boss will be angry with me if I did not attend the programme.
My friend will leave me alone if they found out I did this thing.
My spouse will despise me if I should do this.
The fear of rejection is action oriented but it is taking the opposite action to what you intend to do.
You are actually taking actions but what you are doing are being shaped by whether others will accept it or not.
Writer's corner
Even if you are the best in whatever you are doing you are going to experience any of these fears at one point in time and what will determine your success is your action and reaction to the fear.
The opposite of fear is courage but based on great writers, courage does not mean the absence of fear but the ability to continue amidst fear.
For you to exhibit the kind of courage that you ever wanted, it is important that you understand the root of fear which are the causes of fear. This will be explained in my next article.
Till I cross your path again, I am like a ready made pen in the hand of the creator. I am
A²¹