The Death Of Fear is in doing what you fear to do: Catchy isn’t it? – Death of fear – such powerful words. To be honest, can we find even one of us who has never been afraid in life? Can we spot one who has always done what he wanted to do without his heart palpitating for a second and rethinking whether we should do it or not. If there is someone like that, then I can promise that they haven’t really gone out of their comfort zone in life.
The Death Of Fear is in doing what you fear to do
Despite all the negative connotation and the phrase death to fear, we reckon that it is one of the most powerful emotions on earth which can make or break success or failure stories in our lives. As we delve further, I would like to refer to our previous number on 11 practical steps to guide you through the journey of overcoming fears. We did talk about a lot of strategies and techniques. The corner stone of this post is going to be about the importance of fear and more importantly how best we can use it to our advantage :)
Doing what you fear to do
It is common sense really – we can either kill the fear or let the fear kill us. Fear easily kills us by making us worry, compare ourselves to others and fall into the spiral of helplessness. However, you can kill fear by taking actions and steps to help you move forward. The worst thing to do while being afraid is to stay stuck and do nothing. As Emerson says – always do what you are afraid to do. It helps build your abilities and the trait to take on new challenges in the world. It is these risks that help you move forward and build a better life.
Always do what you’re afraid to do – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Purpose Of Fear
I believe there is very less talk about the perks or advantages of fear. Everywhere we go, people talk about getting rid of fear and making sure that it is not going to bother us in our life. I do not particularly debate that aspect, but I would like to understand more about the purpose of fear. In a large design, I believe fear has a very strong role to play.
Before we discuss further, what actually is this fear? What is the meaning of fear and what is its purpose in life?
Simply stated, fear is a signal, an emotion which occurs when we are doing something for which we are not aware of the outcome. Or maybe we are doing something which we are not completely comfortable and there is a fair chance that things may screw up. And rightly so because let us face it – none of us is born an expert in the multitudes of life. There is going to be something or the other which we are really bad at! And naturally enough we are scared whether it is going to succeed or not!
Beneath the Fear: Meaning of face your fears to win
The Death Of Fear!
The author of the quote straight forwardly says that the death of fear is in doing what we are afraid to do. Quite paradoxical right? – I mean if we are afraid to do something, then how can we think of doing it? To a point it seems a bit absurd as well.
But think about it – the best way out of something is sometimes through the very thing that holds us back. The way forward sometimes is through the things we are afraid of. The reason being that sometimes fear might not be as real as it appears at all. Fear might just be a distraction, a test if I may call it so – a test to see how badly we want a few things in life, a test to see how committed we are about the goals that we define for ourselves. It is very easy to baulk under the pressure of fear, it is fairly easy to let it have the better of us. But then, what is the purpose of fear? What do we do if such a thing happens again?
Do we stay away from it cos we are afraid of it? Do we let it become the bigger demon and dictate the terms of our life?
The last time I checked, we were the ones in control of our lives and whatever happened around us was an outcome and that outcome was based on what we did for our lives and not what we were scared of.
And that perhaps explains the premise of our thought on fears and how we go about tackling them in life. For they might be as imaginary as we want them to be or as real as we want them to be. And if not for this time, there is going to be another time where this fear is going to be the ugly green eyed monster? The call is completely ours – whether we tackle it now or let it get bigger and stronger so that it becomes more difficult to tackle it later.
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Inspiring post Vinay. Unless we take the bull (fear) by the horn and confront it, there is no way we can tame it.
Thank you Somali. That’s a perfect picturization! And that’s the only way to tame this particular bull :)
Vinay…again a fabulous post!! Fear is in everybody!! It affects differently to different person! To conquer fear, the first thing is to face it!!! Excellent reading!!!
Thank you Tina :). I think fear is an inescapable aspect in all our lives. It is just that how we face it makes all the difference. I don’t think there is any other way out without going through it.
Truly the death of fear is over our victory in being able to do things that we fear of. Very nicely explained and inspiring as ever. Thanks for sharing Vinay :)
Thank you Maitreni :). It is a nice thing to actually go out and do something, to know that we are afraid of this and yet trying it out. It is a great feeling to actually try out something we are afraid of and awaken the adventurous spirit within.. After all it is one beautiful life :)
I don’t know about fear but I force myself to take up activities that I hate to ensure I am fine with everything in this life.
I think that is wonderful Richa. I have that bug too, once in two years, I would like to pick up something which I am not very comfortable doing. It kinda is a humbling feeling, kinda ego shattering and also a great feeling to learn a new thing. It brings out an adventurous spirit..
So true, Vinay. Thanks for sharing this wonderful and inspiring quote :)
Thank you Purba :). Glad you liked it :)
Death of fear…yes, it’s only possible by confronting the greatest fear. Our mental strength and courage are our best weapons to combat fear.
Well-written, Vinay, and inspiring…as always… :-)
Thank you Maniparna :). True, indeed. I think it is all there somewhere, sometimes hidden, sometimes buried somewhere in the experiences of life. But it is really brilliant how it comes out and how we can bring out that special essence of strength.