The right amount of fear/gear

Sometimes I wonder where my fear has gone. Not that it is completely absent from my life, but today it is in many places a little cuddle cat, where it used to be a frightening tiger that I couldn't walk past. Or has it simply disguised itself, taken a bit of potion to make me believe it looks different now? And should I be afraid that the fear might come back...?
And how much fear is actually good for us?
The day before our glacier hike, I talk with a fellow traveler about her fear of flying in a helicopter because a fellow participant feels compelled to tell us about various helicopter crashes after we decide to go on the glacier hike. I say I am not afraid because I trust the pilots to know what they are doing since they do this every day. I briefly talk before the hike about whether we are afraid of the path on the ice, and I say I have no fear because I trust that we will get the right equipment and that this path is walked multiple times a day by tourist groups. And we do get it, the right equipment, the nicest pilot, the best tip for the number of layers, the friendly tour guide, the impressive path on the Franz Josef Glacier.
In the past, I was afraid to ask about the way; today I let people explain travel routes to me in a foreign language. I didn't think I could find the seminar room alone at university; today I find myself alone in places where I know absolutely no one and have no cell reception, and it is okay. Maybe I have more trust today. And better equipment.
In some situations, I do wonder if there can be too little fear, whether I have sometimes lost it too much when I stand alone at night in a foreign city without giving any thought beforehand to how I would get 'home.' When I climb something and then realize it would be wise to know how to get back down. When I thoughtlessly tell someone that I am traveling alone. When I fly onto a glacier, jump out of a plane or off a cliff, and don’t care about when exactly I need to be back. Perhaps I felt deprived of my freedom for so long due to fear that I forgot how important it is in the right measure - fear of heights, accident risks, being alone is not necessarily bad and might even be life-saving.

Somehow you need both, fear and no fear. Or: The right amount of fear combined with the right equipment in the sense of gear: The right number of layers to stay warm, spikes under shoes to avoid slipping; people to catch and help you if you do fall (on the ice or in a decision you’ve made).

I am very grateful that I now have such good equipment (and if you are reading this, you are a part of it)!