What is Fear?
1) Fear Is A Primitive Survival Mechanism
Paul Ekman, an American psychologist pioneering in the study of emotions, identified fear as one of the seven universal human emotions. It usually arises when we are faced with either real or imagined threats.
This complex, evolutionary emotion has preserved mankind from Mother Nature’s elimination game by triggering a combination of biochemical responses necessary for our survival.
2) Fear Is A Highly Personalized Emotion
Every individual perceives and experiences fear differently. First, let’s take a look at our adrenaline junkies, those who seemingly enjoy fear-inducing activities like watching horror or bungee-jumping. Then, there are those at the other end of the spectrum who would go out of their way to avoid events that stimulate the fear response.
Differentiating Between Healthy and Unhealthy Fear
Healthy Fear
- Stimulated by a real threat
- Encourages us to take action
- Dissipates after the problem has been resolved
Unhealthy Fear
- Stimulated by an imagined or self-exaggerated threat
- Paralyzes us from taking action and further escalates into rumination and shame
- Persists because there is no real objective or end-goal
How Can We Turn Unhealthy Fears Around?
Have you caught yourself minimizing social interactions, staying within your comfort zone, or halting yourself from progression? These behaviors are commonly rooted in the fear of failure, rejection, or embarrassment. While most fears are completely valid and normal, we want to overcome extensive fears that disrupt daily functioning and personal growth.
1. Shift Your Focus
To break the cycle of unhealthy-paralyzing fear, we have to shift our focus to things within our control. Unhealthy fear stems from outcome uncertainty, so addressing it requires us to concentrate on things within our current capacity. For instance, while we can’t control how others respond to our passion projects, we can control how much effort and quality we invest in our work. Similarly, while we can’t control the current global health crisis, we can always be more diligent in taking care of our own health.
2. Befriend The Enemy
Fear is a human survival mechanism, giving us valuable survival functions we shouldn’t take for granted. However, what’s amazing is that we have the ability to teach our brains how to respond to our fears. How? The key is to befriend our fears – take time to understand them and consistently face them heads on. Proven by researchers from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), the brain needs to re-experience a fear in order to extinguish it (Khalaf et. al., 2018).
3. Respect Your Courage
Courage and fear go hand in hand. It takes tremendous courage to accept that the only way out of it is going through it, so never disregard that. Many deny they have a problem caused by a fear of some kind when actually they’re afraid of confronting it. The courage to become aware is the first step to any action.
Concluding Thoughts…
Fear, a normal and autonomic response to threat and danger, is a wonderful and revolutionary emotion. It creates awareness of what needs to be taken caution of and signals us to adjust our limits and boundaries. When fear is managed efficiently, we can shift our habits and perspectives for the better. So, learn to acknowledge the occurrence of unhealthy fear, and then double down on things within your control. By transforming irrational fears and embracing healthy fears, we create more space for things within our capabilities and grow with resilience.
Sending strength,
Janessa.
References
Adolphs R. (2013). The biology of fear. Current biology : CB, 23(2), R79–R93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2012.11.055
Ekman, P., & Keltner, D. (1997). Universal facial expressions of emotion. Segerstrale U, P. Molnar P, eds. Nonverbal communication: Where nature meets culture, 27-46.
Khalaf, O., Resch, S., Dixsaut, L., Gorden, V., Glauser, L., & Gräff, J. (2018). Reactivation of recall-induced neurons contributes to remote fear memory attenuation. Science (New York, N.Y.), 360(6394), 1239–1242. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aas9875https://www.paulekman.com/universal-emotions/what-is-fear/
