The balance between fear and risk
“Everyone freaks out. Sometimes the best we can do with fear is befriend it. Expect it and understand that fear will always reappear. Eventually it subsides. It will return. The real culprits are our knee jerk responses to fear and the way we try to avoid feeling fear, anxiety and shame. ”
what is fear?
Risk = recklessness
Figure 1
Fear is an emotion that can elicits a biochemical (physical) reaction and emotional response. Fear works to alert us to potential threats, which may be physical or psychological. Fear can be associated with a real threat, or it can stem from perceived dangers. The physical response to fear is commonly known as the “fight, flight, or freeze” response. The emotional response is extremely individual to each person and the associated experience. Fear is a big feeling that can create similar reactions as emotions of happiness and excitement, but it can also create emotions of threat, terror, lack of safety, vulnerability, or insecurity (figure 1). The physical reaction of fear is the same, but the experience of fear can be perceived as either negative or positive. Fear is beneficial for our safety when it is matched to the associated threat. For athletes, there may be a real threat, but as they develop more skills to prepare for the threat, the fear becomes reduced. For athletes who participate in extreme sports that involve risk management and creating a healthy relationship with fear, they thrive from the thrill that can come with managing fear. Participation in extreme sports can trigger many positive psychological benefits. For example, sports that are generally thought of as risky are found to be connected to a variety of positive psychological benefits. Extreme sports instigated positive psychological relationships with the natural world which benefits the individual as well as assist in developing traits of courage and humility in athletes(Brymer & Schweitzer, 2013).
“In extreme sports, athletes are perceived to either have an unhealthy relationship with fear, or be pathologically fearless.”
Symptoms of fear can include:
Chest pain
Chills
Dry mouth
Nausea
Rapid heartbeat
Shortness of breath
Sweating
Trembling
Upset Stomach
Performance anxiety is connected with fear in extreme athletes, as with many sports. It is a part of sport that is a reaction with external stressors that are outside of the athletes control. Not being able to prepare or expect these obstacles can be very anxiety-inducing for endurance athletes. It is important to understand what it means to work on attention regulation in the context of endurance sport racing, so that the athlete learns to maintain “focus forward” attention so that they can perform at their highest level (Weinberg & Gould, 2014).
Controlling the Perceived danger
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Visualization and planning helps us stay in the moment as we feel as if we are prepared for both the optimal and sub-optimal experience.
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Every success has a long and winding road that precedes it. If we allow ourselves to be disheartened by obstacles, we are inhibiting our own growth and success.
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Focus on what you want to happen, not what you fear will happen.
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Fear of failure can cause us to keep us from achieving our potential. The journey to success isn’t linear, so it is important to give ourselves grace as we work towards our goals.
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Make a list of the things that cause fear and make a plan to acknowledge them individually.
fear and flow
Tough minded Optimism
Deep Focus
Educated Risk Taking
Figure 2. / Zuleger, 2021
The more you can enjoy the present moment, the more you can trust the future. By staying in the moment and staying focused on selected tasks helps us stay present so that we can focus on the task at hand. Educated risk taking means taking risk that increases satisfaction and allows for personal growth. Educated risk-takers are not reckless. They study all the variables, do their homework, prepare the controllable elements. Finding flow is a unique formula for each individual but common variables are focus and mindfulness(Figure 2).
Stress Inoculation Training
Fear and performance anxiety cause individuals to worry about the future. In the context of athletics, they may be worrying about things outside of their control. Stress Inoculation Training is an approach that combines imagery, self-talk, and relaxation to help individuals cope with feelings of heightened arousal and anxiety. Imagery is used to gradually consider stressful encounters and then pair them with a calming resolution. For example, a cyclist may worry about a tight corner on the course and would imagine approaching that corner in the peloton at speed and using their skills to make it through the corner safely and in a good position. When the athlete is tested in a real life scenario, the intensity is decreased as they have been building coping skills for this situation (Baldock et al., 2021).
Phase 1: Learning about the nature and impact of stress, become aware of autonomy, think adaptively
Phase 2: Learn new coping skills (ie, visualization and imagery)
Phase 3: Utilize coping skills in real life situations with stressful stimulus
References
Brymer, Eric & Schweitzer, Robert. (2013). Fear is good for your health: A phenomenological exploration of extreme sports.. Journal of Health Psychology.
MacIntyre, T. E., Walkin, A. M., Beckmann, J., Calogiuri, G., Gritzka, S., Oliver, G., Donnelly, A. A., & Warrington, G. (2019, May 10). An exploratory study of Extreme Sport Athletes’ nature interactions: From well-being to pro-environmental behavior. Frontiers. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01233/full