Does Fear Make Us Stupid?

This path in Zion National Park, running along a cliff edge (somewhere between 200 and 800 feet high), scared the crap out of me, causing me to freeze, clutch the wall, hide in the corner of the path against the cliff, and generally look like a weeny.

Hi folks, welcome!

 As fear seems to be playing an unnecessarily powerful role in my life, and potentially my decision-making, I thought it germane to read the book by Germain, so I downloaded it to my Nook. I was struck by one sentence in the synopsis, “Fear makes us stupid.” I wondered, is this true?

• Well! Even today in my 70s, I have an abject fear of heights, which ruined my ability to enjoy the scenery in Zion National Park this summer – pretty dumb, but overwhelmingly true; status – worse than ever!
• When learning to ski in my 40s, fear of losing control of my edges and sliding out of control sideways down a steep slope would cause me to lean towards perceived safety, in towards the hill, thus losing my edges (try leaning to the right and see what happens to your feet), causing me to slide out of control down the hill – not so bright a reflex; status – recovered!
• I used to suffer from fear of public speaking in my 30s, as a result of which I was unable to listen to people’s questions, making my responses subpar at best – not very effective; status – recovered!
• As a teenager I was very shy and scared to ask girls out, and the more attracted I was the less able I was to speak coherently, having my first real date at age 20 – damn, what a waste; status – recovered!
• Now I’m scared of my aneurysm rupturing, which is causing me to panic and hesitate to spend the time needed to seek a second opinion – is that wise? Status – ongoing.  [Kevin (talking to self), instead of revising your will, why don’t you think about the level of risk, and apply reason: (1) the stent almost certainly dislocated about 2 months ago in a bike wreck, (2) you have completed a half Ironman and placed in a local run since then, (3) the aneurysm was at 5 cm two weeks and three days ago, so it’s not growing rapidly, (4) when discovered in 2010 it was at 7 cm, so it isn’t even fully pumped up, and (5) only half the blood of the aorta is passing through the aneurysm, so by accounting for local pressure drops, you almost certainly have time to seek a second opinion].

Um! I think that there’s a pattern here – let’s go get that scan DVD and mail it off today, and have a gentle swim – come on “Brave sir Kevin.“

-k @FitOldDog