Fear is not a virtue

Fear is not a virtue. It is not a badge of honor. Or a moral stance.

Fear is not a safe healthy place to retreat into.

Fear that is not processed places your emotional and mental health at risk.

Operating from Fear will default you into a regressive position.

Into a kind of stuck paralyzing energy that can justify many distorted beliefs and dysfunctional behaviors.

Fear can also be weaponized by others to keep you cut off and contained.

And it can be weaponized by you, your fear imposed on others.

In both instances yielding oppressive toxic results.

Fear does not have to be experienced this way.

Like Anger. Like Sadness. It is an emotional place we can visit but must eventually phase through.

Rather than allowing Fear to be an obstacle, Fear can be approached as an opportunity.

Fear can propel us to choose courage, action, decision and change.

Fear can remind us that life will always carry an element of risk. And that tolerating this risk is an essential part of existence, inherent in every heartbeat, every breath, and every step.

You can embrace the challenge that comes with confronting fear, rather than embracing the avoidance inherent in it.

Fear can spring us to find new pathways, and position us back to a new healthy openness.

There is no shame in being afraid. Just no value in staying that way.

Exercise: Remember as a child how fear had an element of fun to it. Halloween/Day of the Dead is the perfect example of the thrill that comes with a scare. How dressing up and having fun with scary things, even death, is possible. Think of a time you were afraid make contact with the sensation in your body. Fear usually is experienced in the belly area and/or extremities. Take a breath and return to your childhood visualizing your first exposure to Halloween/Day of the dead, and that sensation of having fun with fear. It’s possible you may recall an unpleasant memory, but with it you may also recall the resilience that comes with your childlike ability to have fun with it.

It’s worth exploring, and you might just be able to re-set your relationship with fear. (And tell a few scary stories while your at it ;)