Why does fear rule our lives?

Fear is a powerful emotion that people experience. Minor inconveniences can trigger it and have us act out inappropriately, and life-changing events can have us hiding under the covers for days.

Fear is a natural response to perceived danger, and it is essential to our survival. In other words, it helps us avoid lions, tigers, and bears.

The amygdala can be thought to be the place for processing fearful and threatening stimuli (among other things). This processing includes detecting potential threats and activating appropriate fear-related behaviors such as fight, flight, or freeze responses.

Why is this important to know as an athlete? Well, I'm glad you asked. When the amygdala registers something threatening, like performing a skill that could be somewhat embarrassing if we fail and have us laughed at (yes, that is a real fear for many people), it will send warning signals that cause us to freeze or fly. In the heat of competition, this happens so very fast we are unaware of it taking place. But the net result is not performing the skills we perform when pressure is absent.

In this situation, fear is victorious, and we are playing a sub-par game. The coach criticized us because we didn't play well. Our parents then debrief all the way home in the car. We now feel we had a terrible game because we didn't play to our potential, and the cycle of fear has begun. Our next match will mirror this because we don't want to make the same mistakes and feel the same way. Our desire to not make mistakes causes us to become tense when the pressure is on, so we make the same mistakes. Rinse and repeat for the remainder of the season.

If you need help, sign up for my Career ResetZone course.

You got this!