Last week we looked at how send it culture teaches us to suppress our fear instead of listening to it, and how that suppression can cost us our judgment over time. This week we are picking up on the question, if suppressing fear isn’t the answer, then what actually is?
Functional Fear vs. Non Functional Fear
Let’s talk about fear because not all fear is doing the same job. Being able to tell the two types of fear apart is a skill worth building on its own.
Functional fear is protective, it is an active response altering us to real danger. It’s your body flagging that something real is happening right now. It’s the feeling you get when the line you were looking at is truly unsafe, or your gut is alerting you to how the conditions don’t quite add up today.This type of fear is a helpful emotion that kicks us into taking actions that keep ourselves safe.
Non-functional fear, on the other hand, is often an old, learned pattern that misinterprets safety and slowly erodes our well being. It’s a learned pattern showing up from a past fall, a past close call, or maybe even a fear you picked up elsewhere that isn’t actually about the moment right in fornt of you. This fear paralyzes us, inhibits action, and leads us to avoidance.
Suppressing fear treats both types of fear the same way, as something so silence. Fear management on the other hand tries to do something different. Instead fear management attempts to listen and to observe the fear in question, then it tries to decode what the said fear is trying to tell you.
How to Manage Fear Instead of Suppressing It
There are two simple check-ins that can help you shift from fear suppression into fear management.
First name the fear outloud. Even if this is just to yourself, take a moment to slow down with a few deep breaths. In this moment by regulating your nervous system you are essentially brining your system back inside the window of tolerance. From here you can move with a more level head by scanning your system. Ask yourself, are you actually ready or are you preforming readiness because that is what is expected of you? Is this fear telling me something true right now, or is this an old pattern unrelated to the situation at hand?
If the fear is true, respect it and adjust, but if it is an old pattern, acknowledge it without letting it make the call for you.
None of this makes you less capable. Learning to work with fear rather than override it is what makes us more resilient in our sports over time. If there is one thing you take away, remember this: suppressing fear might get you down that trail today, but learning to manage our fears is what will keep us on the trails for years to come.
Leave a Reply