We prove a hyperstability result for the Cauchy functional equation $f(x+ y)= f(x)+ f(y)$, which complements some earlier stability outcomes of J. M. Rassias. As a consequence, we obtain the slightly surprising corollary that for every function $f$, mapping a normed space ${E}_{1} $ into a normed space ${E}_{2} $, and for all real numbers $r, s$ with $r+ s\gt 0$ one of the following two conditions must be valid: $$\begin{eqnarray*}\displaystyle \sup _{x, y\in E_{1}}\Vert f(x+ y)- f(x)- f(y)\Vert \hspace{0.167em} \mathop{\Vert x\Vert }\nolimits ^{r} \hspace{0.167em} \mathop{\Vert y\Vert }\nolimits ^{s} = \infty , &&\displaystyle\end{eqnarray*}$$ $$\begin{eqnarray*}\displaystyle \sup _{x, y\in E_{1}}\Vert f(x+ y)- f(x)- f(y)\Vert \hspace{0.167em} \mathop{\Vert x\Vert }\nolimits ^{r} \hspace{0.167em} \mathop{\Vert y\Vert }\nolimits ^{s} = 0. &&\displaystyle\end{eqnarray*}$$ In particular, we present a new method for proving stability for functional equations, based on a fixed point theorem.