Fear Can be a Useful Enemy

Despite my belief and insistence that we can and should rise above our fears, I don’t advocate a reckless approach to doing so. Instead, I believe that we should tackle our fears with the kind of careful thought that goes into understanding and accomplishing any other project.

Our fears hold us captive and inhibits our ability to transition from the negativity of the past to the joyful appreciation of the present and then to entertain realistic expectations for the future. To combat that, we should face our fears head on, do battle with them if we must, salvage whatever positive value we can and get on with the business of living a meaningful and productive life. But when fear continues to stand as a seemingly impenetrable wall, keeping us stuck in an “I can’t” cycle, we have to find new ways of breaking through and moving ahead. In our zeal to rid our lives of our fears, we must be careful to not “throw the baby out with the bath water.”

If you agree that fear is our enemy, would you also agree that even an enemy can be useful?

Here is how: Fear establishes our weaknesses.

We are no good to ourselves and our dreams if we don’t recognize and acknowledge our weaknesses. For, it is there, sitting in the company of our actual or perceived inadequacies, past failures and other life experiences that we can grapple with our weaknesses.
Walk through your fears. Trace where they began and how they have progressed and intensified. Pinpoint the areas in your life where they have wreaked the most havoc and crippled your development. That is where you will find your weakness.

Let’s say, for instance, your fear of exams have kept you away from further study, taking specialized classes to satisfy an interest in a hobby or a small business idea. Where did that fear originate? Could it be from failure or only mediocre scores in previous exams? Maybe your fear stems from an inability to fill out application forms, comprehend exam questions or an inability to read at a certain level? Reading and comprehension might be your weakness. But that is not the end of the story; it doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to settle for a life of dreaming about goals that never see the light of day because you are fearful.

Use your weakness as a springboard to plan an escape route and launch an attempt to take at least one small definitive action that will help you extricate yourself from the strangle hold your fear has on you.