This is a short excerpt from J Peterson's book Maps of Meaning. I thought it was interesting enough to post here as it deals with facing the unknown and how it relates to strengthening the "personality" (although that's probably not the best word)
The habitual act of avoidance - of rejection - weakens the personality, in a direct causal manner. The strength of a personality might be defined, in part, as its breadth of explored territory, its capacity to act appropriately in the gretest number of circumstances. Such strength is evidently dependent upon prior learning - at least upon learning how to act - and knowledge of how to act is generated and renewed as a consequence of constant, voluntary exploratory behavior. If everything new and different is rejected out of hand, the personality cannot adjust itself to changing circumstances. Circumstances change inevitably, however, as a consequence of simple maturation; as a consequence of entropy itself. It is of little use to be entirely prepared for the past; furthermore, it is only possible to remain prepared for the future by facing the present.
Anomaly is, therefore, spiritual "food" in the most literal sense: the unknown is the raw material out of which the personality is manufactured, in the course of exploratory activity. The act of rejecting anomaly transforms the personality into something starved, something senile, and something increasingly terrified of change, as each failure to face the truth undermines capacity to face truth in the future. The person who comes to adopt an inappropriate attitude towards the unknown severs their connection with the source of all knowledge, undermining their personality, perhaps irreparably. The dissolution of strength is self-perpetuating: every weakness increases the likelihood of further weakness [my addition: the reverse is equally true: every mustering of strength to face and overcome challenges strengthens and prepares us to face into and overcome future challenges].