I do believe that fear is an essential part of life, and while this is a common thing in the world it is more so in certain situations, like when you are in a store, waiting for someone, or in your workplace. The fear of the unknown is one of the many reasons we may not be able to do what we want to do, and it can be very overwhelming to the point that we may end up not doing it at all.
It’s true, we often don’t want to do something because we fear we won’t be able to do it. This is a very real reason why we may never get our way in a debate, or a negotiation, or a meeting. It’s because we have no control over the fear that we would lose.
When I first read the title of this blog entry, my first thought was of a time when we had a fear of not being able to do something, but now I realize that we often don’t want to do something because we fear that we would be unable to do it. In fact, over the years I have had many times that I had no idea what to do and that I was so afraid of not being able to do it that it took me years to figure it out.
The key to conquering fear is to figure out what it actually means to you. What does it feel like to you when you do something that scares you? What are you afraid of? What are you afraid of doing? Are you afraid of losing your job? Of being killed? Are you afraid of dying? Of losing your loved one? Fear is something we are all afraid of at some point or another. The good news is that the fear is not all bad.
Fear can be useful. In a study of fear in healthy people, it was found that it made people more aware of their own actions and less likely to repeat them. In a study of fear in depressed people, anxiety attacks were found to be more likely to occur when a person felt afraid, but that didn’t lead to more depression. Fear can also be a good motivator.
Fear can also be a bad motivator. In a study of people who had been on a very high risk drug trial, people who had their fears triggered by the drug were less likely to continue on the drug. Fear, to me, is akin to the fear of the unknown. What if I don’t know what’s going to happen? I’ve seen friends go through these lows and get depressed and I wish I could do that too.
Fear is a very strong motivator and when it’s properly managed and treated, the fear is a very powerful motivator. In the case of the high risk drug trial study, the fear of the unknown made it possible for the participants to continue on the drug. It’s not that they didn’t understand what was going to happen, but they were afraid of what might happen.
There are people in the world who think that the world is about to be tested, so the fear of the unknown does exactly what it should be. But when we are testing our own fears, we tend to think of the world as a test, and that’s a pretty good motivator.
Well, that was a pretty cool piece of info. In that same study, the participants were asked if they thought their fear of the unknown will be a huge motivator for their participation in the drug trial. 80% of those that answered the question said “Yes”, but if we take that into account, then the majority of our participants are not so sure they want to be part of the drug study.
I find this to be pretty interesting. It is true that the majority of participants did think their fear of the unknown will be a motivation for participating in the drug trial, but if we take this into consideration it just means that those who said they were not sure were really not sure.