What do you do with fear?

Have you ever wanted to take a big step into the unknown – or even a small step into somewhere that is out of your comfort zone? Did you manage to take the step or were you paralysed by fear? Or even just halted for a moment to think about the consequences? Or did you barge right in without thought of what could go wrong, focussing solely on what could go right?

I tend to hesitate and weigh up the options before steaming ahead. I’ve come to learn that fear is a good thing. As long as I don’t become paralysed by it.

Fear allows us to take a moment to think about what we’re doing, whether there are any safety precautions we need to put in place, possible outcomes that may not be exactly what we were hoping for and things to consider.

I once heard a keynote presentation by a doctor who was a base climber – the type that climbs the structure before leaping from it. It doesn’t really make sense to me that a doctor whose primary job is to fix people, would take such risks with his own life – but he did. He talked about the fear that he faced before every climb and jump. He talked about the team of people who he did it with, the trust required for each of them to have in each other. The skills of each of those team members and the different roles they played. The preparation he took so that when it was time to jump, he would just jump – at the correct time. He would practice jumping down an increasing number of steps, saying “3, 2, 1, jump”, so that when the time came to jump from a ridiculously high structure, he would just repeat “3, 2, 1, jump” and his body would know what to do without his mind getting in the way.

He was quite an incredible man, relating the fear that he faced with the fear his patients faced, and their family members. He was an oncologist, so his patient’s decisions were life and death – and they needed to be on board with what was coming next.

It was a great reminder that fear is something that we use to our advantage. We put the support structure in place, we do the preparation, we build confidence and we be brave and do it anyway.