Do You Know the Difference Between Fearlessness and Recklessness?

I spent the past 2 early evenings hiking through remote areas of the Adirondacks.

Moose, black bear, coyotes, and some have even reported mountain lions and wolves inhabit this deep, vast wilderness. 

I did not cover myself and my wife with slabs of bacon, steak and suet, and play dead in the most remote areas of these parks. Why? I care not to be bear food and I also know the difference between fearlessness and recklessness.

Some friends deem me fearless for hiking through remote areas because knowing the nearest humans reside 5, 10 or 15 miles away with big predators present demonstrates a certain fearless streak. But if I clearly intended to attract black bear and the possible mountain lion, wolves or even Sasquatch – who has been sighted in this wilderness – to cheat death, to fight these predators or to see what transpired, I would be reckless.

Being reckless emanates from an energy of fear. Seeking out fear directly from a manipulative, careless intent often leads to nightmarish scenarios, including death, financial ruin or domestic chaos. Observe how thrill seekers sometimes suffer horribly in one or more areas of life. Some say their thrill-seeking intent is to make them feel alive but many intentionally manipulate circumstances to confront death masked as fear in a confrontational way, arrogant want.

Death often wins.

The sad part is that if these individuals faced fear-demons from their past they could live a healthy, freeing, fulfilling life filled with ample thrills, fearlessness and inspiration for all.

Being Reckless Seeks and Confronts Fear through Poor Judgment

Note the bear-bacon example above. I would be seeking, confronting and almost demanding fear to meet me ASAP to defeat the sucker. Reckless people manipulate circumstances – wearing a bacon suit in a vast wilderness with 10,000 plus black bears – to force fear to meet them. Bad idea.

Fear sees your fighting words and often meets you in an inevitable, damaging, crippling fashion with quite horrible outcomes.

Observe gambling addicts, for instance. Compulsive gamblers appear to chase the high but simply demand fear to face them for punishment, always because of some fear-pain not addressed and embraced, from the past.

Being Fearless Means Following Your Fun to Allow Fear to Meet You

Being fearless in moments means following your passion to let fear find you in its own way. Big difference between being reckless and fearless because fearlessness is a passive, non-resistance, open, non-confrontational energy.

For example, my wife and I hiked a trail in the Adirondacks yesterday many miles away from human beings. We drove a good 5-7 miles into the park before finding the trail head. Why? We both have a passion for hiking. Our intent is to enjoy nature. 

After relaxing by a lake for 10 minutes a coyote howled loudly on the other side of the lake. A quick, small twinge of primal fear surged through my being. Hearing a loud howl close-by with no humans around for miles created an eerie sensation in mind. Fear found me not because I demanded fear to find me but because I displayed some fearlessness hiking through a remote area at dusk, all due to my passion.

Never get it twisted; fear WILL find you on your passionate, fun-loving journey to show you what you fear and how you need to conquer the fear to stay the passionate course. Just discern the difference between fearlessness and recklessness to do a better job preserving life, limb and property.