A healthy fear of death

During a drunken conversation at a bar, I mention that I’m terrified of dying. My friend says that this is no good, I need to alleviate myself of that fear. Fear is bad, fear holds you back.

But I disagree. I think fear can propel you. I tell him of a concept that I can’t remember if I came up with it or not, but it’s that good and bad feelings can be like the two pointers on a compass. The positive tell you which way to go, the negative tells you which way to move away from. Both combine to give you the right direction, so long as you are properly oriented.

My friend can concede enough to say that my metaphor is decent and at least creates a reasonable outlook. But, he can’t quite get to accepting that fear, and negativity in general, can be a good thing. If he were to coach me, since being a sort of life coach is an ambition of his, he would try to cultivate the negativity and fear out of me. Try and make it so that I am positive in everything.

But it’s not that I lack the facilities to do that, it’s that I adamantly believe that fear is a good thing, if done right.

If a hungry polar bear were to suddenly come into the room, being afraid of it is a very good thing. Same if someone pulls a gun on you. Or if you might lose all your money and go hungry. Or lots of things. So long as your fear is channeled in a way that makes…