FACING FEAR

You don’t have to become an extreme athlete in order to ally yourself with fear. But leaving the safety of your comfort zone and taking a risk is a worthwhile endeavor. Because if you can accept your fear it will make your life richer.

»I’m hanging from my fingertips without a rope or a safety system in a vertical wall. Below me the abyss, fear begins to spark within me. But it doesn’t make me panic. On the contrary: It enables me to concentrate, because every grip has to be spot-on—fear isn’t my weakness, fear is my best friend. It drives us, protects us, warns us, slows us down and guides us. Can I conceive of fear as something positive? In what way is fear an instense life experience? And why do my fears help me gain more freedom and independence?«

Fear is only a bad companion if you don’t deal with it. But if you do, it becomes an instructive friend, steers decisions in the right direction, and sharpens you gaze for what’s important.
With contributions by Prof. Dr. Frank Wilhelm, head of the Clinical Stress and Emotion Lab at the University of Salzburg.