We all experience fear every now and then. We are afraid of flying and swimming, of job interview and public speaking,; we are afraid of rejection and loneliness; we are afraid of change.

But have you ever stopped to think what fear truly is?

Throughout the years, society has conditioned us to retract at the first signs of fear. Fear is negative, scary and a sign that whatever we are about to do is dangerous.  Therefore, we avoid it as the plaque.

So we choose not to pursue that dream job we’ve been longing for in so long, because we fear that we are not good enough. We are afraid to go after the person we love due to fear of rejection. We don’t speak up during work engagements, afraid that we may be wrong. We stay at boring and unfulfilling jobs, afraid that we are not going to be successful in starting the business of our dreams.

But guess what?

The more you give in to fear, the more afraid you become!

In actuality, fear is just an emotion. It’s not negative, nor positive. And it’s definitely not scary.

Fear is just a sign that you are about to do something new, something unknown.

This is the fear of physical danger and it is the true essence of fear. In this case, fear is a part of the mechanism for preservation that every single human being possesses. Imagine what the world would look like If fear didn’t exist – people would be walking off tall buildings, they would be driving recklessly and living irresponsibly. This type of fear keeps us well and alive.

Imagined Fear is the most common type of fear we experience today. It is perceived fear and not real, even though it feels otherwise.

Our bodies respond to fear, whether it is real or imagined in the exact the same way. No matter if we’re being chased by a ferocious dog or about to give a presentation at work, our body’s physical response is remarkably similar – heartbeat accelerate, palms sweat, breathing speeds up, muscles tense. All of those prepare the body for fight or flight.  This type of reaction would be extremely helpful in the dog scenario. But what about the later situation? How would running off the stage help you with the presentation? Certainly punching your boss in the face will not get you anywhere positive either. Yet, like an ostrich buried its head in the sand, we choose to ignore the logic, we choose to ignore the truth.

And the truth is that imagined fear is not real.

Here I propose a different perspective on this type of fear. 

Imagined fear grows depending on the challenge you are about to face. But really, the bigger the fear, the bigger the results you will get. So, we can look at FEAR not as the emotion we all strive to avoid, but as an acronym with a simple meaning and a formula for achievement.

F – Factor

E – Estimating

A – Attained

R – Results 

The bigger the fear, the bigger the result.

So instead of running away and avoiding fear at all cost, we should get excited about the potential results awaiting on the other side.