Fear’s Attraction and Why We Keep on Knocking on Fear’s Door

There is no other time in the gym where you feel the most uncomfortable than your first day. Seriously, a bunch of equipment you have never used before, a flock of people walking around (with your conscious telling you they are probably judging you…even though they’re not), men who have the strength of beating you in an arm wrestle with their left hand, and women who have the strength of beating you in an arm wrestle with their right. The entire situation of being in an unfamiliar environment is just so intimidating for many.

 

Even the concept of fear still rings true for the more experienced gym junkie. Just not in the same situation. Picture this: you’re facing one of the heaviest weights you have ever lifted. Heck, if you can complete a rep, it’s going to be your personal record! You psych yourself out, blasting your “go-to” song to get you pumped, grab a hold of the weight, and you apply a little strength just to test how heavy the weight is. That’s when it suddenly sinks in. The weight barely bu
 dged. Is it too heavy? Am I strong enough? Are people watching me now? What will they think if I chicken out? You weigh the pros and cons and you decide to still give it a shot. You’re halfway through the movement, you’re struggling a little (but that’s to be expected with weight you have never done before), you start doubting yourself, you lose your focus, and you give up. You gave up. Do you know what the worst part about it is? You could have lifted that weight, set a new personal record, and have a weird little smirk on your face once you finished.

It’s the fear of the unknown that chokes us and gets the better of us. So why do we keep on entering the unknown time and time again?

To explain this, I’ll use the German philosopher, Immanuel Kant’
 s explanation of the sublime. Though, this is a term used for the arts, the parallels of his explanation to exercising beyond your fears is similar.

In short, the sublime are works of art that generates a negative feeling within those who view it. It can be feelings of sorrow, disgust, fear, hatred, sadness, and even for works of art that are “large and grand” where it is just too large for a person to look at one glance and
 with so many things happening, it may seem to overwhelming. This can relate to exercise, especially the “large and grand” characteristic, when referring to very heavy weight or a gym with many people.

But why do we find pleasure in the sublime OR why do we do such harsh exercises? Why go to an unknown and hostile environment? Kant explains that if you don’t run away from what you fear, it results in you overcoming your limitations and rising above those limitations. Much like breaking a personal record!

There is something very satisfying when you feel like you have overcome your boundaries and enter into a new level of your life. It truly is a thrilling emotion once you have surpassed what you thought you could not have achieved. Even more satisfying is the fact that you were able to suspend or silence the thoughts in your head that made you doubt you
 rself, making you believe you are capable of many more amazing things in your life if you just shut off those negative emotions in your head. This is why we visit fear everytime we go to the gym, we rely on fear to motivate us to reach new heights.

Remember, fear is always going to be behind your back, but it’s up to you to decide what you will do with it when it’s in front of your face.

“Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless, so that the mind in the presence of the sublime, attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt”

-Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason