Fear and Courage

The fear that often holds us back from a new adventure that may be calling out to us is a natural response to the unknown, and to a worry that trying something new could result in a failure that might threaten us financially, or lower our image in the eyes of others, or even introduce a big crack into our own self-esteem. But fear can hold us back most effectively when it presents itself as something other than what it is.

It turns out that fear has many disguises that can help it do its work. It can appear as a sense of mastery that doesn't require any more challenges, or a feeling of comfort that does not need to be troubled, or even as a proper form of self-satisfaction that has no motivation to be further put to the test. It can recount the presumed needs of other people for us to stay just where we are in our lives or our careers. Fear is, in short, great at citing reasons that direct our attention away from its presence as the real force in action on us.

We can't deal with a problem well until we understand what it is. Identifying fear as the culprit that's holding us back allows us to assess that emotion and perhaps marshal the Aristotelian virtue of courage so that it can begin to do its work in the face of the fear. It's the courageous, after all, who make the future. And we're here to be bold.