Managing Fear

Whether you seek terror at your local community haunted house or by watching too much political news, fear abounds this Halloween week.

Fear is one of our most primal emotions. And because our brains shine a spotlight on the negative to ensure survival, we feel fear far more strongly than happiness, and pessimism more sharply than optimism.

In 1933, as Roosevelt began his first term as president, he addressed the nation three years into the depths of the Great Depression. Fear had already done immense damage: a collapsed stock market, banks failing and wiping out lifetime savings, businesses closing and leaving workers unemployed, landlords evicting families unable to pay.

It was a profound financial and humanitarian disaster, the largest since the devastation of the Civil War.

Roosevelt’s election was a demand for action to stem the tide. Indeed, along with his win, Democrats also gained the majority in Congress for the first time in 16 years.

It was then that Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address, saying, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Because actions taken in fear—and its cousins, instability and anxiety—were primary contributors to the sell-offs, closures, evictions, and other acts of economic desperation that continued to spiral.

He reminded the country that yes, the dangers and suffering were real, but that ultimately fear was the greater threat, exacerbating hardship and blocking the path to recovery.

The sweeping, bold federal actions that followed, coupled later with the economic boost of WWII, stopped the bleeding and led the country into a new era of recovery and stability. For example, it was during this time that policies like FDIC insurance were created, protecting bank deposits up to $250,000 today.

The lesson here is that feelings of fear and doom must be acknowledged—like toddlers, they don’t do well being ignored. But while emotions arrive automatically and fast, there’s still space for intentional, rational thought.

We must acknowledge our fear and anxiety, then bring them along as we march forward with decisive action. Courage is not the lack of fear, but rather doing what’s right despite it.

In doing so, we move closer to our goals and begin tackling the problems ahead, even amid inevitable fear and uncertainty. As his speech continued, Roosevelt himself reminded us that fear prevents the very actions needed to move forward, to solve the crisis.

So this week, consider this your call to courage: move forward. Do what’s necessary, do what’s right, even though you feel the fear.

Because you’ll never reach the next level, or solve the crisis, if you’re waiting for the world to calm down.