Emotions and the Martial Arts – Fear

“Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the ability to act in the presence of fear” – Bruce Lee

What is fear?

Fear can be anything that puts us into fight, flight, or cause us to freeze also known as the 3 "F"'s. It can be real or imagined and it becomes something that is an obstacle. Fear strikes each of us at different levels and can seem easily surmountable one day and a constant nemesis that shows up each day we head to or are on the mats.

For prospective students it can be fear of injury or fear of not doing well.

For beginners, it can be fear injuring themselves or their training partners and fear of feeling lost.

For experienced students, it can be fear of passing a test or fear of not being as good as another student.

For instructors, it can be fear of being enough for the students or fear of being an imposter.

A Three-Step Plan for facing fear

1 Identify and Name it

First always identify and name your fear. Once you know what it is and give it a name much of the power is already diminished. Like in Harry Potter, those that did the best against Voldemort were those that used his name rather than "he who should not be named". Interesting huh?

2 Reward the positive small goals

Next, is planning a reward system around the smallest of successes. If showing up to class is difficult, coming and participating should be rewarded regardless of any retained information. Maybe it's a favorite drink or snack. Then string them together so it becomes two classes or however is most effective. Remember the goal is more about showing up to fight the fear and less about everything else. Once that fear is conquered, you can always use the same methodology to reward yourself into the next obstacle.

 Personal story, I can't work out without watching something on TV. Music wasn't effective for me. My reward for working out is being able to watch shows I've seen or want to see. I'm not hardcore as a Jocko or David Goggins. I've accepted and looked up these men, but I had to find my own path. My goal has been to be consistently healthy and this has been my hack to help find success.

3 Execute and pause for silent reflection

Lastly, is always execution but now I add being self aware of the courage, effort and sacrifice I put into moving past the fear. One can't have courage with fear. There are days where I wanted to cheat myself out of the reward because I believed I could do more, but I stuck to the plan and rewarded the work over the extra. The value of the goal is always greater than the time and resources sacrificed to achieve it.

 Experiencing fear doesn't mean that you don't really want your goal. It doesn't mean you aren't capable of achieving your goal. It's a response to the unknown and unexpected, and by identifying, planning, and executing with moments of silent awareness of the progress thru fear you can have the courage of lions.