This essay examines fear as a powerful human emotion that, when properly channeled, serves as a motivator for overcoming difficulties rather than a paralysing force. Using Paulo Freire's article "Don't Let the Fear of What Is Difficult Paralyze You" as a framework, the author argues that fear can be transformed into an asset for academic and personal development. Through personal examples from university life and high school English coursework, the paper demonstrates that confronting fears directly—whether in reading comprehension, social interaction, or academic performance—builds intellectual and emotional resilience. The essay concludes that individuals who learn to control and redirect their fear can leverage it as a powerful tool for achieving personal challenges and growth.
Fear is one of the strongest human emotions and can be either helpful or detrimental in challenging situations. Reading is indeed a difficult task, but several different ways exist to overcome the difficulties it presents. This idea is explored in the article "Don't Let the Fear of What Is Difficult Paralyze You" by Paulo Freire. To me, reading is the act of uncovering a text and represents "a transaction between the reader and the text." I believe that the author demonstrates valid ideas applicable to everyone. Fear can serve as an asset and a powerful motivator when it comes to overcoming difficulties.
Overcoming obstacles in one's life can be extremely difficult. When an individual goes through such an experience, it often allows them to develop their intellectual abilities. In the article "Don't Let the Fear of What Is Difficult Paralyze You," Paulo Freire discusses the different types of fears that an individual can face in their lives and describes a variety of ways in which they can overcome those difficulties. The author talks about how studying is a "demanding occupation" during which students will go through many hardships and come face to face with an abundant amount of fears.
One of the many fears a student could face is the difficulty of comprehending a complex text. In today's world, literature is not studied as thoroughly nor as frequently, and since people don't bother to gain knowledge, they fear it. Freire's article discusses ways to overcome all of the fears that a person could face in their life. He advises that "When faced with fear of any kind, one must first objectively ascertain whether there are real reasons for that fear." Luckily, his advice does not only apply to reading but to everyday circumstances as well. The article shows how important it is to not let fear shut someone down.
An individual will face many difficulties, yet they also possess the ability to overcome them. As a first-year university student, I have had to go through many difficult situations and face many personal fears simultaneously: finding new friends, keeping up with assignments, punctuality, understanding course material, and getting good grades. To overcome these difficulties, I must surmount these fears.
Generally speaking, I am a shy person, so finding new friends is a challenge I must overcome by making an effort specifically to meet someone. I remind myself that out of billions of people in the world, there are people who are bound to like me. To overcome most of my difficulties, I have had to be more disciplined as well. The same idea is discussed in Paulo Freire's article. Fear can be a great motivator. I fear not being able to get a job, so I pursue education, which is one of the ways to overcome that particular difficulty. I try to let my fear encourage me to be better and remind me that I must always put in my best effort. Most of the ideas discussed in Freire's article seem to be very helpful for an individual attempting to overcome their own challenges.
I can attest that the theories proposed in the article are fully functional in an individual's life, as they have worked in my own. One example of this is when I first walked into my grade twelve English class. Previous to this course, I had only read comic books and two-hundred-page novels. My teacher immediately presented me with new challenges, such as reading classic novels with advanced vocabulary and complex storylines, which was something out of my comfort zone.
My teacher exposed me to difficult literature to the point where I became accustomed to the level of difficulty. I had to do a lot of homework and extra studying to keep up my previous grades. A lot of hard work, effort, and extra help after class gave me the tools to be successful in that class. I used the fear inside me to motivate myself to be better in life and also to not give up. This experience demonstrated that resilience can be built through sustained effort and a willingness to confront challenging material.
In conclusion, I believe that fear is an immensely strong emotion as it can motivate an individual to try harder in life rather than just giving up. All of the facts and personal experiences stated above prove fear to be a great motivator, which can result in the overcoming of personal challenges that individuals face. If an individual can control fear in their minds, it will become extremely easy to flip that negative energy and make it into a challenge. Thus, they can put their fear to work for them.
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