What Should You Fear?
What Should You Fear?
Does fear help? Is anxiety a form of protection? What if the answer is - you should fear nothing?
Every day, we’re bombarded with things we are supposed to be afraid of
Fear this. Fear that. You’re in danger. Global warming. World War III. Nuclear weapons. Terrorism. Viruses. Global cabals. Communists. Immigrants. Recession. Apocalypse. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Hurricanes. Traffic accidents. Cholesterol. Sexual deviants. Criminals. The rapture and judgment day.
If you can name it - someone out there is warning you to be afraid of it! Let us examine the cost-benefit equation of fear.
What do we stand to gain by being afraid?
The impulsive reaction says that by being informed of the danger, we will be able to avoid it, and if we can’t, we will still be better prepared to face it.
It makes logical sense until you examine it. The first thing to discern is the following.
What is under our control, and what is not?
Let’s dissect the above examples. I’ll divide them into two groups: one where things are completely out of your control and another where you have power over future events and can prevent the things you fear from coming to pass.
Things out of your control:
Global warming. World War III. Nuclear weapons. Terrorism. Viruses. Global cabals. Communists. Immigrants. Recession. Apocalypse. Earthquakes. Tsunamis. Hurricanes. Traffic accidents. Sexual deviants. Criminals. The rapture and judgment day.
As a general rule: you do not control anything outside you, action of others, natural forces, or “fate.”
Things within your control:
Cholesterol (ish).
As a general rule, the only thing you control is your mind and your choices in the now.
What have we learned from this detailed and thorough analysis?
Don’t eat eggs and red meat? Sure, until you do your research and realize the science behind this fear-mongering is nonsensical and outdated, and those might just be the best for you.
You may not be able to prevent these things from happening, but by being informed and afraid, you will handle them better, right?
What can you do about the above-mentioned terrifying future events
You can move to a safer country where natural disasters are almost non-existent.
You can stop venturing out of your house where you can encounter people and viruses, which potentially solves half the above list.
You can be a good boy or girl, real pious-like, just in case there is an angry God in the sky, judging your every thought.
You can “do your part” in informing and fear-mongering other people in the hopes that you will collectively be able to prevent certain events from coming to pass.
You can go all prepper and stock up on weapons and provisions, build a bunker, learn martial arts, and surround yourself with multiple Dobermans.
See, I’m fair and objective in my analysis. There are things you can do to manage the impact of a potential future on your life.
But here’s the problem
To ensure the maximum chances of survival and a state of readiness, you must essentially stop living today. Danger is behind every corner, and there is no time or resources to waste as you prepare for doomsday.
Are you willing to take the steps mentioned above? If the answer is no, why bother thinking about them and being afraid? This only creates anxiety.
Is this really how you want to live your life?
Afraid of everything, cowering home alone, refusing life’s pleasures, never meeting new people or trying new things? Can such an existence, safe though it may be, still be called life, or is it merely existence?
These are only the outward consequences of giving in to your fear—a miserable, isolated, paranoid life.
Worse yet, surrendering to your fears will completely and utterly ruin your inner peace and ability to love, enjoy life, and experience the best things life offers. It is a bulletproof recipe for misery, suffering (emotional), loneliness, and disease.
If you allow fear to rule your life, you will become a pessimist at best. If this fear is allowed to grow, it will completely distort your perception of life.
All you will see is danger, suffering, death, and pain everywhere.
Anxiety will become your faithful companion.
By being so risk-averse, you will stop doing the things you love doing the most.
Constant fear, anxiety, and negativism will make it impossible for you to ever be happy and content.
Life under the spell of fear is no life at all, dear friends. I would know. I’ve lived it. Fear should continuously be purged from your mind, ruthlessly and with haste! You stand to gain little to nothing by being afraid but lose so much.
The greatest irony of all
When you allow fear to consume you, you will fall under its spell. You will live in the same circumstances as your fellow humans, but your individual experience of those situations will be far worse than theirs.
If you stand in the crowd at a concert, you can have the time of your life, be mildly annoyed, or be stricken by paralyzing fear and social anxiety, hardly able to breathe, if at all! (for example)
The same can be said of everything.
Yes, a new global war is possible at any point in time. Usually, the flames of conflict are ignited by surprise with the smallest of triggers.
Yes, some natural disasters can hit your home at any time. Shit happens, and every once in a while, shit hits the fan, sinking everything beneath.
Yes, you can have an accident, get robbed, attacked, or suddenly die of some disease. It happens to thousands of people every day.
Life is all about uncertainty
There is no safety on this planet. It’s an illusion! You can be as careful and risk-averse, and still end up dead under the most unexpected circumstances. That’s just life.
You cannot prevent this. You or I can die today, or we can die in a few dozen years. None of us will know when their time is up. That is unknowable and unpreventable. You need to accept this fact of life and move on.
Focusing all your attention on preventing loss and avoiding risk or danger is no life at all. Life is inherently dangerous. You risk something with everything you do. Yet, if you do nothing, you risk the most - you stop living and purely await death in a paralyzing cramp of anxiety and terror.
You are safe not taking chances on a new relationship, but you will be alone forever.
Your money is safe in a bank, but you will never become wealthy if you don’t take any risk.
Travel can be dangerous, but you will never explore it unless you are willing to risk something going wrong.
That’s why it’s called an adventure, and life, dear friends, is all about adventure. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Being brave or fearless is not a magical superpower
It is not something that only special people possess. It’s a learned skill, a way of understanding, reframing, and accepting uncertainty. It’s doing things despite your fear, risk, and danger, not in their absence!
You, too, can learn to face your fears, process and analyze them, and then move on despite the same danger remaining valid. It’s a choice we all have to make. Yes, I can die today, but if I refuse to live out of the fear of death, I have already stopped living.
Will you make that choice?
To stop fueling your anxiety and pessimism because you understand you never benefit from it?
To face your fears, come hell or high water?
To say “No!” to all those who want to see you scared and anxious.
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