Fear

Today I am having my wisdom teeth taken out. Those who know me could tell you how terrified I am but I try not to let on that I am. Why am I scared?

Today's post is going to be about three different kinds of fear and why we have fear as a emotion.

1. Fear of the Unknown
Almost 99% of the time when I feel fear, it is because I'm thinking about doing something or I'm already doing something that is UNKNOWN to me. As humans, we like the comfort of knowing. Knowing what and how things are going to go down. Knowing the plan. Knowing what we are use to in out daily habits. And when we a faced with not knowing, we tend to be more fearful. Which is natural, and you shouldn't feel shame about being scared of the unknown. We have all felt this way.

2. Fear of Failure 
Sometimes we don't give our best effort because we are afraid of failing if we did. Not a single person likes to fail. Yet, at some point in each of our lives, we do fall short. We don't get that A+ that we were hoping for. We don't stay on top of house work. We forget to reply to messages. We make a mess out of dinner. We sleep in and forfeit a workout. We fail at our goals. But don't you think the word "fail" is a tad bit harsh? Just because we mess up sometimes, that doesn't mean we are a failure. If you are fearful of not being able to meet expectations, don't let that fear make you stop the progress that you will eventually make, no matter how small it may be.

3. Fear for Safety
This kind of fear is when you or a loved one is in danger. Fear that results in caution. The play it safe mentality. It's the kind of fear that grips you when bad things happen. This kind of fear is usually felt with adrenaline or stress. Fear for safety takes a lot of self talk, and prayer in order to get through it. We all have felt this kind of fear as well.

All three of these different kinds of fear are valid emotions, but these emotions can get out of control if we allow it to. I believe fear is a emotion just like joy, kindness, worry, etc.

For example, if no person ever felt fear, the world would go crazy doing dare-devilish type things and having to pay for the consequences of their actions based without a sense of fear (Fear for Safety.)

All humans are faced with fear. It's how we deal with fear that can effect us in a negative way.

You see, fear is one of those things that can get in our heads and enable us to move on, move forward. And when fear gets ahold of us like that, it turns from a harmless emotion into a battle. A battle between truth and lie. Fact versus fear. In the face of fear we tend to think irrationally. We try to hid from the unknown, we sulk when we feel not enough, flighty when at risk. With all three cases of fear, we try to put it off, because fear is uncomfortable.

Today I face the Fear of the Unknown. I want to control the situation, not be in the hands of someone I barely know. But as I look back over past times when I have stepped outing the unknown, I can see countless other times when I have overcome this real fear. That's why it is important to see how far we have come in the past. Thinking about times when we have overcome the fear has a way of boosting our confidence.

I think a lot of times we try to wave it off as if our fear is not legitimate. As if we shouldn't be feeling this way. This is both false and somewhat true. Fear as a emotion is very real, it is definitely legitimate, and no one should tell you otherwise. But when this fear turns into a battle (A battle where the emotion gets too strong to decipher fact from fear) we can sometimes become irrational in our decision making. We can form our reaction to the fear we feel off of a lie we are telling ourselves. And this is unhealthy.

Example:
Using the Fear of Failure... When a school test comes back and you've done awful, you fear you won't graduate. Fear as Fact tells you: True, if you keep doing poorly, there will be consequences. But one bad grade will not stop you from trying your hardest on the next test. Irrational Fear tells you: That you're not smart. Your never going to make it. In both school and life. You have fallen short and will never succeed.

As you can see, the emotion of "fear" is still in both scenarios, but the outlook is different. One is of fact. Accepting the truth of the matter, and giving a effort to change your grades. The other is of a out-of-control emotion when the fear of fact becomes blown way out of proportion. And you tell yourself that your life is doomed.

The main point of this post is to say... We all have fear as a emotion. If we let it, our Faith in Jesus Christ will allow the fear to stay a emotion and not a emotion that turns into a reaction based off of lies we believe. But without Faith, fear can become overwhelming and squelching. It can give us lies to believe and false facts to make a bigger deal out of things than they are.

Because fear is a emotion, it is also a choice. You can choose how you handle your fear.

How do you handle fear? Did this post help you understand fear as a emotion or did I just confuse you? (You don't have to answer that! *winks*) 

Many Blessings,
Brooklyne Elysse