Wednesday, October 13, 2010

"Fear of failure must never be a reason not to try something.”

Frederick Smith

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3 comments:

  1. NalorinOctober 13, 2010 at 12:35 PM

    I sometimes wish that things like this could more easily be DONE than SAID! I wonder why fear is even such a big part of our lives, today, when "fight or flight" is largely irrelevant in our world today.

    I mean, the chances of being eaten by some dangerous creature or getting into a fist-fight with an opponent that poses a real threat is quite unlikely for most of us. Instead, our natural, survival fear is typically replaced with more synthetic fears: fear of not making enough money, fear of what other people think, and the ilk.

    As silly as it is that we fear so much, it is unlikely that any huge, transformational change will occur in my life as a result of my awareness of such a character flaw.

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  2. HawleyOctober 13, 2010 at 10:27 PM

    Is fear really an adaptive response to our historical tendency to become lunch? Or is anxiety the natural state of the social creature? Sure, nothing's going to eat us any time soon, but I would argue that a secure member of the prehistoric group didn't have to worry about being scarfed either. It was the outcasts who had that problem. For a human, survival has always depended on successful integration into the social environment. Therefore, fear is the appropriate response to impending social failure. Such was the case for our ancestors.

    For us . . . Hm. Maybe social acceptance isn't as central to the continuation of life as it used to be. But even if it is, I don't know what you would be worried about. I like you just fine. ;)

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  3. UnknownOctober 21, 2010 at 9:44 AM

    Plus, if we remember back to the four needs, survival is only one of them (1. survival, 2. to love and be loved, 3. to feel important, and 4. variety / growth)

    So with that in mind, I agree with you Hawley, that it's more of a social thing. Fear of not having one of these needs met - which makes a lot more sense when you think about it, especially in this environment where it's difficult to place what the "RIGHT" thing to do is. Social change has blown "norm" and "correctness" and "tradition" out of the water so we are left floundering on our own to distinguish what will provide us with fulfillment regarding these 4 needs.

    It's pretty understandable how we could feel afraid in this day and age.

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