How we act because of fear, usually seems justified in the moment. But often it’s not, because fear tends to cause us to act without thinking. Sometimes there’s no time to deliberate—immediate action is needed, but usually we have time to calm the fear and act more rationally.

It’s learned behavior though. It doesn’t happen automatically merely because we wish it would. It starts with assessing our actions and being honest with ourselves about how we could have conducted ourselves better.