Courage to Overcome Natural Inhibitions

A few years ago, I led a bible study at the church I was pastoring based on Adam Hamilton’s book, “Unafraid: Living with Courage and Hope in Uncertain Times.” He gives a great definition of courage: “Courage is not the absence of fear; instead, it is doing what you feel you should do, or what you long to do, despite the fear. As you press through your fear, you live a life of courage and hope.” Courage is living with integrity, telling who you are with your whole heart, and refusing to let fear prevent you from doing so. 

However, what excited me the most about this study was the discovery that this book had inspired former children’s minister/author, L.J. Zimmerman, to write a children’s book on the same topic, “Eek! Said Amy.”  

The book is about Devon and his friend, Amy. Amy is short for amygdala, the part of your brain that helps you feel emotions and decide how to respond to them. In the case of fear, your amygdala is the one that sends you signals for flight, fight, or freeze, increases your heart rate, and releases adrenaline into your system. The problem in “Eek! Said Amy” is what to do when your amygdala is over-reactive, when you feel fear when rationally you shouldn’t, and turn molehills into mountains. When Amy is on red alert, it’s hard to calm her down and it’s hard to think clearly. The book ends with Devon sharing strategies to calm Amy down, one of which is to thank Amy for all her hard work to keep him safe. Devon says Amy shows him how to be afraid and how to be brave. 

There are healthy fears – times when you really need to pay attention to your amygdala’s signals to flee, fight, or freeze. These are good defense mechanisms designed to keep you safe. The problem is, like too much of a good thing, they can go overboard and hinder us from living life fully. By the time we’re middle-aged adults, we’ve usually figured out workarounds to deal with the spaces our amygdala goes into red alert unnecessarily, whether we avoid certain situations, places, or people, or have consciously worked on coping strategies when avoidance isn’t possible.  

Some natural inhibitions are a good thing. They keep us from getting too close to the edge of a cliff and from touching hot things. Not many of us jump into the deep end without doing a risk assessment first. Other times, however, our natural inhibitions may keep us from a new adventure or from trying something hard if our amygdala signals that the risk of failure is too high. Courage is doing the hard thing, anyway, despite our natural inhibitions. It’s thanking your amygdala for her hard work to keep you safe and letting her know that this new activity is worth the risk. The new endeavor might be a wonderful success, or it might be a learning experience for what not to do. You’ll never know if you don’t give it a try.