Fear And Loathing In Las Almas

You tremble and you shake. The sweat drips off your forehead and fingertips. You're afraid. You're paralyzed. What do you do? How do you cope? How do you find a way forward?

Believe it or not, fear can be healthy. By now, most of you reading have seen the conclusion to Christopher Nolan's "Batman" trilogy, "The Dark Knight Rises" where Bruce Wayne makes the leap out of the pit without using the rope. The reasoning is that with the rope, there is no fear of failure so your body subconsciously doesn't give full effort, because there is no fear of dying, only pain. We can live through pain. Dying however is much more permanent. So without the rope attached, Bruce Wayne makes the leap and just like that, he makes the jump. He succeeds. In an otherwise grim tale, that's a pretty storybook ending. What would have happened had Bruce fallen to his death? We'll never know because that's a movie and not real. But the principle, if applied correctly, can teach us something.

I want to share with you another story, from another perspective.

There was once a wealthy man who needed a driver for his limousine. An ad was put up in the newspaper and professional drivers came from miles around to prove they had what it took to be the man's driver. The job paid well and wasn't laborious. It was well-known the wealthy man treated his employees very well. For those who made driving their profession, this was in essence a dream job. The first man to interview for the position was told to drive as close to the cliff as he felt comfortable. Hoping to impress the wealthy man, he floored the vehicle and at the last minute, cranked the wheel and slammed on the brakes. He was a mere five feet from the edge of the cliff. The wealthy man thanked him and sent him on his way. The next driver upon hearing how close the first had gotten to the cliff, vowed to do better. He mashed the gas into the floor and sped towards certain doom, only to crank the wheel and slam on the brakes a little later than the first driver, if only by milliseconds. He had timed it perfectly. He was one inch from the edge of the cliff. The wealthy man thanked him and sent for the next applicant. The next applicant however, took a very reasonable and moderate approach to the cliffside, turning and parking thirty yards from the edge of the cliff. The wealthy man got out of the car and shook the driver’s hand. "I do not want a driver who risks my life for their ego, but rather works to protect my safety." The third driver was hired on the spot.

We are presented with two extremes. One where fear is embraced and our subject is successful in his endeavor and the other where fear is shunned in the name of safety and security and our subject is successful.

So what is right? Which one should we rely on for wisdom? Both offer extremely different and pragmatic points on how to exist.

Fear is a powerful motivator. It's what keeps the soldier behind cover during a firefight, it is also what urges him to peek out cautiously and return fire due to the fear of getting overrun. Is he more afraid of getting shot or of getting overrun or outflanked?

The answer lies within the dosage. Too much of a good thing spoils us, and too much of a bad thing makes us contemptuous, calloused and hard. But the right amount of a good thing is refreshing, and the right amount of a bad thing makes us stronger.

How do we figure out the dosage? Like all things it is important to continually test and retest as we can either progress or regress on a daily basis. So we need to constantly assess what level of fear is appropriate.

We do that by testing ourselves. Pushing ourselves to the limits of almost recklessness and dialing it back. That's why it is important to do things that get the blood flowing, to push our limits. Not necessarily operate outside of our comfort zone, but if our comfort zone is a circle, we need to push outward, making small dimples in the circle. Growing our comfort zone little by little, pushing right up to the line to the point where we almost lose control, then dialing it back just a smidge.

Fear is important, but not so important that we let it alone dictate our actions. We must find the right dosage of fear to motivate us to grow. We need to find that which gently pushes the boundary of our comfort zones forcing it to bubble out. Fly like Icarus, but be mindful of the sun. Push your limits, be afraid, but retain the right amount of self and situational awareness to ensure that fear does not become manifested as hubris and relegate us to the pages of history as just another Icarus.