5 Benefits of Fear and Lessons Life Taught Me
Life has taught me many lessons and shown me several benefits of fear, which usually come from facing what scares me the most.
Many people avoid situations that would cause them to fear, and some have become paralyzed by it when it is unavoidable.
The one important thing to remember is that our fears have a great deal to teach us if we keep an open mind and have the courage to face them.
Many people do not know what their fears are rooted in.
There are three factors that fear is distinguished by:
- intensity (how severe is it)
- timing (immediate or impending)
- coping (actions that can reduce or eliminate the threat)
They have had one as long as they can remember.
They may have had one experience that they have generalized to be fearful of something globally.
There are so many things that life can teach us about fear if we open our minds and consider what we can gain from the experience.
Many people are afraid to face their fears, and who would not be?
They are scary and uncomfortable.
However, if we take the chance, we can conquer them and use what we were once afraid of to motivate us.
Life Lessons Learned From the Benefits of Fear
1. Many of us fear serious health issues or death
We worry about what could happen to us and how we would handle it.
Speaking from experience, you can either give into the health issues or live in a constant state of fear and stress, or we can use that fear to propel us towards new goals and success.
We can channel what we are afraid of, choose to take control of what we can, and make a difference for ourselves and others through personal life experiences or advocacy.
When we face our fears head-on, we feel empowered and capable, and we do not let illness define us.
2. Life has taught me to keep going no matter what
There are many times when we are afraid that we cannot achieve a goal we have for ourselves.
Sometimes, we are working toward something and are thrown obstacle after obstacle.
We become fearful that we will not finish it, that we will feel like a failure, and that we will look incapable.
What can fear teach us here?
KEEP GOING!
Many times, people were just a few steps from success when they gave up.
Learn that fear makes success even more worthwhile because you have not only achieved your goal, but you have conquered your fear.
3. Fear can teach you to let go of something unimportant and not backed by evidence.
For example, you may fear that you cannot succeed in graduate school, so you do not attend.
Fear has stopped you from even trying to achieve a goal.
However, you can ask yourself, do I have any proof that I would not succeed at this?
If you are honest with yourself, and that answer is “No,” you should push through your fear and sign up for a class.
Perhaps try one, and once you have shown yourself that you can be successful, add more from there.
Here, you have faced your fear head-on and proven to yourself that you are stronger than your fears and that you will not let them control your life.
4. Life has taught me that fear is that voice in my head that makes me doubt myself.
It is that thing that keeps us stuck where we are, prevents us from taking chances, and stunts growth.
Fear causes us to play it safe and miss out on potential opportunities in life that could have been real growth opportunities.
However, if we face our fears head-on and work outside of our comfort zone despite them, we have the chance to show ourselves how successful we can be.
These successes, small or large, can empower us and start the momentum of facing fears and becoming stronger than we ever thought possible.
5. Perhaps the most important lesson is that facing your fears is freedom.
What does that mean?
It means that our fears hold us prisoner if we let them paralyze us.
We miss out on opportunities, and we stunt our growth.
We let something that is imagined and often has never happened hinder the course of our lives.
When we make the bold move to face our fears, we become powerful, not powerless.
We become capable and brave.
We become someone who believe in ourselves and our abilities and will push ourselves further because we have already proven to ourselves we can.
What benefits of fear have you discovered in life?
Tell us about a time you faced and discovered the benefits of fear and learned something about life in the comment section below.
Remember, courage is not the absence of fear.
We all have fear and doubt.
What matters is what we learn from them and how we react to them.
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