I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.-Bene Gesserit, Dune.

 

Fear is something, like pain that is also constant in life. Learn to accept it, embrace it, control it. If you haven’t learned this yet, accept that you are fearful, and pretend that you are not. Nobody has to see the fear in you. Fear is based off our ability to see hypotheticals, the unknown. Our ever-calculating brain, a gift and curse. What can happen, the infinite solutions that can persist through time, or that will cease to exist due to an improper action. The heaviest weight of it all, freedom in the form of many choices.

  Moving on past probabilities and mathematical notions, fear is something also very primal. It is present in every animal in the form of death. It is present in every human. Those that say they do not fear, lie. Those that appear fearless, are riddled with fear, and have made it a driving force, instead of a subtracting one. Those who are impervious to fear, have suffered such cruelties or have the empathy to have entertained such notions long ago, that the choices presented to them offer no new unknown. Those that are riddled with anxiety, have subconscious fears that have not been answered.

  Fear is present in everyone, and is a great cause of stress. Yet it is meant to keep us alive. To keep us on our toes. And serve as a gentle reminder how limited our time truly is. Fear is what gives our boldest actions, the sweetest victories. The conquering of ourselves. Our intelligent and primal selves.

 

There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.-FDR.

  Fear can also create inaction, which I believe to be far worse than poor decisions. Inaction is passivity, it seeks to minimize the blow by doing nothing. Allowing free reign on chaos, and your inaction as an excuse to blame external forces. To submit to others, to submit to things out of control, and to submit with your knees down begging to be spared. No. Do not snivel with snot and tears running down your face. Fear makes you vulnerable. I can accept that my fear is caused by my hypotheticals, or the potential losses. But it shows me what I truly desire. It is a mirror to your ugliest and best profile. It can destroy or forge you.

  When you have the most to lose, that is when the most fear should strike at your heart, your core beliefs, and make you spineless. But it can also cause you to rise, higher than before. Because you have the most to lose, you will sacrifice everything to keep it. Morality becomes a blurred line where deals with the devils can be made. Sacrifices of body and other means can be made to soften or take the possible consequences. Everything can be shifted. But also, you can put more will power, more heart into fighting against what you fear the most. Never will you be so powerful, than when both physical stamina and strength, and emotional rawness come together. When tears of pain, joy, sorrow, pleasure, past, present, and future unite. There is no such mix. Where the chest heaves so much that the chest becomes heavy and breathing becomes nearly impossible.

  The desire to live, the desire to keep things safe, can make you a super human for a short time. There is a toll, where your body or mind can break. Yet the consequences of becoming so strong so quickly, usually is met by your needs. The long term effect is that your limit of pain has increased; you can handle more in the future. It takes more things to reach your new pain tolerance, and as a result there is less stimulation of both emotional investment and attention to inconveniences.

  Fear like all emotions are just another tinted glass that we can see through. Although I find the fear of failure to strive to make me competent. My pride in my work helps make me strive to be the best.

  Fear is just the first part of learning, it can be a powerful driving force. But do not become fearful. There is no need to let it consume, and become a part of you. Let it serve as not a gentle reminder, but as a wake-up call.