Toufic Abou Nader

What is fear? Can we overcome it; master it or even embrace it? Is fear inherited, learned or something else? Should we avoid it at any cost? When do apprehension and hesitance transition from being necessary for our safety and security to becoming obstacles on our life and leadership path? Your individual answers to those questions will be different from at least 7 billion others. But neuroscientists and psychologists agree that our response to fear falls into one of three general categories: flee, fight or freeze. That’s a universal experience and where our keynote journey begins. Our approach to fear, our preparedness for it and our intimacy with it, are nearly never discussed. Why is that? Can we turn our relationship with fear — our fear of fear — to our advantage? Can we redefine it and fine-tune our responses to it so as to become more resilient, more present, more outgoing and adventurous in our lives. I have frozen, fought and fled in a span of twenty minutes.

All of us have grit — bravery, backbone and resolve — to varying degrees. Some of us are intimately aware of it, others have felt hints of it. This keynote experience, A True Grit Toolkit, begins a journey toward a deeper understanding of what grit is (hint: it’s not muscle or will power), why it matters and how to strengthen yours. Adversity, crisis and trauma expose the character of our grit, especially when they threaten that which is near and dear to our heart — in my case exploring and adventuring. In 2015, on an expedition in a remote region of Oman, not far from the Strait of Hormuz, I was bitten by a deadly-venomous carpet viper. In A True Grit Keynote I tell my story of struggle and survival; from the initial shock of the trauma; to drifting in and out of consciousness; to the fear of, and surrender to, the real possibility of dying; to the discovery of potentially cancerous cells in the bite zone three years later.

We crave the comfiest sofa, the driverless car, heated seats, frictionless relationships, zero stress, more days off. We refrain from asking for a raise; we leave our assignments until the eleventh hour; and we want to begin a better diet and regular exercise — next Monday. Seeking comfort is our top priority. I collided with a car at high speed at the age of 15. The doctors’ prognosis was that I would suffer the consequences of that accident for the rest of my life. They advised me to accept a new reality without most of the function in one of my legs — a reality with devastating unimaginable physical and mental obstacles consequences to my every activity and passion. Aside from my physical agony I was in shock, depressed and in tears.