Fear, I’m Loving It.

Fear Less Life Lessons From A Stunt Gal, Episode 1

Fear sure is rampant in this era, isn’t it? I am writing a series about fear. Certainly from a stunt person’s point of view, fear is something many people think we don’t have. And perhaps, for certain people, that is true. For me, however, it is not true. Fear, when considered valuable, is a good thing to have. So let’s dig into why fear is good.

Fear inspires us to consider the dangers that are around us and in doing so, evaluate the reality and come up with a plan to cope. That is the major reason adrenaline exists in our body and has since at least the caveman. This is good. If we don’t realize danger exists, we won’t take preventive steps for safety.

In every stunt job, a danger exists. By definition, one might say, this is true because the job is to expose the stunt player to an existing danger instead of anyone else.

The premise is that the stunt player is qualified to diminish the negative effects of the danger. The non-stunt player is not skilled to do this. Additionally, the possibility of injury to a stunt player takes a much lesser toll on the project, because the stunt player is replaceable.

So how does this relate to life for you? What if you don’t want to be replaceable, and don’t get a thrill from overcoming the dangers? What if fear paralyzes you? These are good questions and ones that I will address in the future.

For now, I have another question: What if the production – the movie – is, in fact, your life? And all the jobs in the production, all the roles in the story are in fact simply parts of you?

You are the writer, the director, the star of your own life. True or True? Yes, and if you are those, you are also the producer and production assistant and the camera operator, the makeup artist, costumer and cook on the set. You cast the players in your life.

If you are all of these, then you must also be the stunt player, who undertakes the dangerous tasks.

You must be the one who is willing to risk the unknown. Fear has a great deal to do with the unknown. Knowledge is enlightenment and the light part of that dismisses the darkness of fear. This really is the way the stunt player survives the task.

We look at the challenge with the curiosity of a scientist. We study the facts around the desired outcome, calculate the variables, and the potential consequences “if” X becomes Y instead. We then create decisions for each of the likely scenarios, and rehearse them, mentally at least. We can ‘t always rehearse them for real. Then, when we go on the ACTION cue, we trust that we have prepared well.

In this way, our fear can be good. Recognize the message your fear is sending you and allow it to inspire your life in a healthy way.

Post a comment and tell me about how you are coping with your fears. What would you like to ask about coping with fear and training your inner stunt person to leap tall buildings?

Next time, I will look more deeply into that Stunt player inside each of us to find out what gets us going. Our happy ending of the series is aiming to help you fear less and love more.