How to Develop Zero Tolerance for Fear

Is it even possible? And if so, how do you enforce it?

Photo by Kristina Flour on Unsplash

This morning I heard a startling statement on the radio.

“I’ve developed a zero tolerance policy for the fear in my life.”

That made my brain spin.

Zero tolerance? I’ve heard that applied to drugs in the workplace, sexual harassment, and other bad behaviors. But fear? This was a first.

Fear will come anyway.

In the 1990s, Nancy Reagan led a campaign against drugs that encouraged young people to “Just Say No.”

This assumes that they will face pressure from their peers to give drugs a try. They frame it as harmless, with words like:

• “All the cool kids are doing it.” If you want to be cool, this is appealing. If the cool kids treated you like pond scum, you’ll say no to be different than them.
• “Nobody will ever know.” If you get drunk and you can stay away from home for 6 or 8 hours, maybe. But if you stumble in at half past midnight on a school night smelling like a brewery, your dad will catch you.
• “It’s not going to hurt anything.” Sure, if you do it once and don’t have a head-on collision on the way home. But if you enjoy the experience so much it becomes a habit, you’ll run into…