Is there such a thing as a “good” fear?

There are obviously fears that large amounts of the population have, but that doesn’t necessarily imply that they are good. “Good” needs a good definition 🙂

I started with the idea that a “good fear” is one that doesn’t cause harm to self or others, cause non-normative behavior, etc. But as I thought about it more, I came to the idea that fear is neither good nor bad. It just is. It is an emotion. All emotions, including fear, just happen. It is the behaviors that stem from unchecked fears that I am most concerned with.

My emotions used to be like a chauffeur. They were in complete control and they drove me around where they pleased. I want my emotions to be like a GPS. They provide valuable information. Ideally, I get to a place where the only effect the emotion has is that I use that information to make the right decision.

Some emotions are stronger than I can handle that way. They exceed my ability to “process.”  Someone more educated than me may disagree, but emotional processing, loosely defined to me, is my ability to recognize, source, and then constructively act on an emotion.

So… as my ability to process my emotions (a learned skill, in my experience) increases, my fears become “good.”