What is the power of Fear?
Paulo Coelho says, “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
George R.R Martin says, “Fear cuts deeper than swords.”
Veronica Roth says, “Fear doesn’t shut you down; it wakes you up.”
I liked these quotes. The authors above have jotted one point i.e. the power of fear is as huge as we decide it to be. We sometimes over think and get scared to such an extent that a minuscule problem looks like a juggernaut which cannot be stopped.
Here is one such story close to my heart which only a few know. I’ll be sharing it with you guys today.
I was an average student in all my schooling days. There was rarely a moment when I would score good marks. Honestly, I wasn’t studious. All I knew was to gulp and mug up answers right from the first word till the last full stop. I failed in certain subjects and would cover up the overall score needed to pass out. I managed to scrape out of school in one piece.
Then I joined a college. Subjects got tougher. Mugging up everything became a headache. I started my first semester paper of Economics with high marks i.e. 35/50. To get such marks in a theory paper was really a good achievement. The teacher was proud. She called me on the podium in class and told everyone how proud she was to read my paper. I basked in the glory too. But it was all false right? I just gulped and spat everything onto the paper. There was no understanding. No effort. I felt like a printing machine printing notes onto a blank sheet.
Now, the second semester came up with a very tough paper. When the results came out, the teacher called me again on the podium. The only difference was that this time, I failed..!!!! Yes, my score was 33/100. Beat that. From a HERO to a ZERO in one semester. I was very embarrassed. I couldn’t help it though. Mugging up answers was my forte. When I saw a question which I couldn’t answer, I panicked and went blank. I hardly solved around 50-60 marks maybe. That I thought was the end of my story.
My teacher had asked me to always understand concepts from my perspective. Write answers which indicate my understanding. No need of a mugged up answer unless it’s a law or a definition. I did that. I overcame my fear of mugging up by giving a shot to listening during the lectures, not fooling around, asking questions, understanding the concepts and jotting it down in the simplest of formats.
That was the last time I failed in a subject. I scored a 78/100 in my Economics paper during the final semester. Since then I have achieved distinctions in my junior college and graduation. I’ve been in the top 10 of my class always. I study with ease and mugging up is not even an option on my schedule.
I like studying now. The size of a book doesn’t scare me. In fact, nothing scares me. I choose to be courageous and take the first step to glory rather than fear to fail. That’s what I believe gives an edge to all of us.
I would like to sum up my post with a quote from Brendan Francis i.e. “Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.”
I was scared too. A problem as tiny as mine, I gave it so much strength that I doubted my inner strength, my will, my intellect and overall I doubted myself. When I took one step to tackle the problem it vanished. I am no longer scared. I will never be.
Like me, Mountain Dew too believes that fear is a fact and one has to take risks in life to succeed. They also believe that “Darr ke aagey jeet hai”
Below is a video which captures Arya’s journey from fear to victory. Do have a look.