"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." I'm not really sure where that quote originated, but I'm sure most ladies know it's from the Princess Diaries. That's really not the point.
Merriam-Webster defines fear (the noun) first as "an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger" and last as "a reason for alarm." That makes sense. It's something that gets our hearts racing in a not-so-pleasant way, and we don't know what will happen. The moment you're sitting at work when you can't remember if you left the stove burner going or not. That second right before you drop on a rollercoaster when you're hanging there waiting for the rest of the train to come over the hump. Your first job interview, pregnancy, or seminar class. Your first love.
But fear is not necessarily bad in itself, in fact, fear is something internal that can be caused by "exposure or liability to injury, pain, harm or loss" (the M-W definition of danger). Isn't that just life? Doesn't gettting out of bed create a liability for injury? I think this is where the other definitions of fear come in: "anxious concern" and "profound reverence and awe, especially toward God." So when we are excited yet anxious about apologizing to a friend, the first few weeks in a new job or trying something new, we are technically experiencing fear. What a strange concept.
Fear, that thing which we always say cripples us, causes us to panic or to act irrationally, need not be a bad part of life. But what does that even mean; isn't that just arguing semantics over an emotion that really could be so strong it prevents action and clear thought? Isn't the natural reaction to someone breaking into your house with a knife to be terrorized? Maybe, but that emotion does not need to be crippling.
I'm not going to say we should just be bold, yet wise, in our responses and decisions. I'm not going to go back to the beginning and say "decide something is more important than fear." You would have seen that one coming a mile away. I'm going to say fear as a good part of life looks like fear. Yes, fear looks like fear. Because how else can I say that an emotion to which we credit our own lack of action or apathy could really be "anxious concern"?
Maybe that concern is for our very lives or maybe it's not, but when we think about how some people are able to be bold and confident, or even selflessly heroic, I have to wonder if what we think about fear will actually define how we react to high-stakes situations.
I wonder if fear would be more of an overly-alerted state where our senses are all heightened and our adrenaline is flowing. Maybe having this new "fear" about taking a test will actually help you recall information; maybe "fearing" admitting something will help you say it correctly. Maybe fear, simply because we know it alerts every part of us, will make us more courageous and able to act on our "anxious concerns." What if fear is necessary for courage to even exist?
