What are your two greatest fears in life or your career?

2016-05-21T00:32:41-04:00

My greatest fear of all time is failure. I hate to fail and will do whatever it takes to win. Whenever a PT test comes around I get extremely nervous then I start telling myself that I will fail. Sometimes I pass sometimes I don't I hate when one comes around. I've been bullied mentally my entire life so I guess it contributed to my low self. My second greatest fear is not being able to protect the ones I love. What are your two greatest fears?

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made May 21 at 2016 12:58 AM

2016-05-21T00:58:52-04:00

SPC Private RallyPoint Member Preparation is the key. Everyone experiences a fear of failure from time to time. Practice the PT test, so that instead of being a weakness, it is one of your strengths. If you know that you are prepared, then you can tell yourself that you will do great. You can then look forward to taking the test with excitement on having a great score. Why do you have a fear of not being able to protect your loved ones?

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made May 21 at 2016 1:09 AM

2016-05-21T01:09:00-04:00

PFC, your fears are good ones to have, but I believe that you are looking at them the wrong way. I was a command fitness leader for the majority of my short five years in the Navy, and I'll tell you brother, it's all about how mentally prepared you are to kick the test's ass. Practice all year round, not just when PT season comes up, and get it in your head that you WILL succeed. Have faith in yourself and push it. It is hard to climb back up after being knocked down your whole life, poor self esteem is a learned trait, but it can be beaten, you just have to find your way to confidence. As far as not being able to protect the ones you love, that is simply your love for them coming out. The more you love, the more you have available to lose. Just do all that you can to protect the ones you love and don't think that the whole world is on your shoulders, allow other to bear the burden and do as you are doing now by asking the ones who matter to hear your concerns. Be open man, for real. Best of luck brother, PM me if ya ever need someone to talk to.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 21 at 2016 2:01 AM

2016-05-21T02:01:15-04:00

We all have fears, I think my biggest fear is, as a leader, I missed the opportunity to reach out and be there from my troops. I will never, ever forget finding the body of a marine I served with hanging in his room after a 4 day holiday. Don't let those fears become powerful enough to keep you from acting. Let them become strong motivators for you. Build your self-esteem by passing your APFT, work towards improving your score so that fear no longer is a valid fear. We never know how we will act until we are confronted in a situation where we have to defend someone. I would not worry about it. Focus on performing your tasks. Learn as much as you can and develop the muscle memory. In the end, you are not really going to have the time to think about what happened until it's over anyway. By that point you would have acted honorably anyway.

Response by SSG Leo Bell made May 21 at 2016 12:46 PM

2016-05-21T12:46:07-04:00

One of my greatest fears is also failure, I don't like to fail ant anything I do. When I get a job I always do they best I can and always try to exceed everyone's expectations. So how I always end up a manager no matter where I go. Thank you US Army for instilling that in me. I refuse to quit or fail. Even with my disabilitys I don't let it stop me. My other greatest fear is that I will leave this world without making a positive impact on someone's life, and that it may get them to make positive change in there life.
With me failure is not an option, make succeed at everything.

Response by SSG Nicholas Wright made May 21 at 2016 4:06 PM

2016-05-21T16:06:38-04:00

A few years ago I had a nightmare where I was on my deathbed, seconds from dying, and realizing I hadn't accomplished anything I truly valued and that it was too late to change anything. I will not face that feeling of failure and despair again. So my first fear is that I will fail to make a difference in my own life. And my second fear is that I will fail to make a difference in the lives of others.

Response by SGT Paul Mackay made May 27 at 2016 6:39 PM

2016-05-27T18:39:13-04:00

my biggest fear in life is not proving my inocenocense of the way i was discharged from service. and my right to dou process of the law i never received in schofield barracks and ft. riley kansas. Discharge was based on lies.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2016 2:59 PM

2016-06-04T14:59:42-04:00

I am, finally, fully retired, after two other attempts. It's too old to wish I'd done things differently in my two careers. I did my best. As for fears, since my earliest days in police work and being frequently exposed to death in its various forms and causes, I became afraid of dying alone. I saw it many times...old drunks in alleyways, stairwells of derelict buildings, on cots in dimly-lit closets called rooms in hundred-year-old gandy hotels. Decades later, I still shudder at the thought.