What’s the worst that can happen?
Does this question make you think about President Trump’s first 100 days in the White House? Or of the presentation you have to give to senior management at work tomorrow morning? Or, maybe it reminds you of melting icebergs and the consequences of sea rise even though you don’t live anywhere near a seashore? What we’re talking about here is that four-letter f-word we have come to know as “fear.” When we ask ‘what’s the worst that can happen,’ we are actually talking about risk management as it relates to fear. Using this elegantly simple question we can take a peek into the future, similar to a fortune teller, and attempt to figure out scenarios and strategies to overcome what we perceive as danger. Here’s something very comforting that I recently learned about fear. It’s that fear is based on something we “see” as taking place in the future, and since the future hasn’t happened yet, then even our worst fears can’t be real. This means our fears are nothing more than a figment of our imaginations. But, we can still feel really scared, right? Yes, true enough. That’s why risk management, which is all about perception, is a useful way to deal with fear. And it’s critically important to remember that one perspective can be very different from another.
For instance, I don’t see an old tall tree as something to fear, although I know there are others who do. To me, a tree is something life-giving and beautiful, even when it is dead. Others, however, could see that same tree as a potential threat to life and property, especially in the event of a storm. My way of dealing with the risk of such a tree during a storm? Simply keep my distance and stay out of harm’s way. After all, trees are biologically manufactured to pretty much withstand stormy weather. There are others, though, who would fear this tree so much that they would chop it down, toss it in the chipper, and have its remains hauled away to be disposed of far, far away. Yikes! How can there be two such differing perspectives to a tree, from a “live and let live” approach to one so harsh in its finality? It all depends, of course, on which image of the future, which fear, we choose to act upon.
As horror movie directors know all too well, feeding our imagination with loud sounds and graphic imagery is everything when it comes to feeding our fear. Our most terrifying fears are often the ones we can imagine the most vividly, like lurid scenes of death and destruction involving plane crashes and bombings. Unfortunately, these high-drama fears can distract from subtler fears which are less visible, more silent, yet just as potentially dangerous. Examples of these quieter fears include serious health issues arising from unrelenting stress, millions of urban refugees fleeing their flooding coastal dwellings, and the chilling effect that “fake news” could have on our freedom of speech and ability to debate issues.
Which fears will we act upon? The most vivid, the more probable, the less visible, or the ones that will give us the least bad outcomes? And how will we deal with them? Will we prepare for action? Will we freeze, like a deer in the headlights, at an overwhelming problem? Or, will we find a way to deconstruct our biggest fears into bite-size pieces? Our choices matter as they could, conceivably, change the course of history.
Fighting fear by taking the time to consider what’s the worst that can happen—now that’s in our best interest.
For more in your best interest, follow Sheelagh @sheesays or visit www.ideagarden.net.
