Fear

What is fear? Fear is an emotion that makes you human. Yes, you hear it right. You might have always perceived fear, as an unpleasant emotion which occurs as the result of threats that are perceived to be uncontrollable or unavoidable, caused by danger, threat, pain or harm. Fear might often result in anxiety, which occurs, as a result of the threat, like any other emotion such as joy, sadness and more. 

In psychology, there are different versions & explanations of fear—for example, the fear of heights, death, darkness, insects, dirt and many more. Let’s look at what causes fear.

Causes of fear

Different people experience fear in varying degrees. We generally hear about the common examples of people being scared of darkness. This is highly uncommon due to the patterns of fear and beliefs of the people around us. This is what I have personally experienced that people have a trend of following and copying the pattern of fear that exists around them.

It is essential to know the reason for the fear, to make a person fearless. However, we actually sideline this crucial factor. In fact, we often do this instead of trying out and giving solutions to the person. It’s like, giving the medicine to a patient without knowing exactly their medical condition.

Fear of fear

People these days are no longer only scared of things like darkness, height, depth, death and more, this phenomenon is known as preparedness, but are now frightened of themselves. Confused? Here’s how.

People are afraid of happenings like : what, why, how, when and where.  Will it happen? When will it arrive? And, numerous such questions. Let me tell you, fear of failure is one of the biggest concerns people face. It’s also the reason why most people feel they have failed in there life or feel suffocated.  

Fear, we and society

Fear is a pre-programmed function in ourselves by family and society, which grows in us, and grows with us. This is the only reason why we often feel stagnant in life. It’s usually due to fear of acceptance from family and society. Well, who can better understand this other than me?

I guess I have never seen any strong person fearful of anything. Someone who’s considered successful. This is because, if you feel afraid, you cannot imagine conquering the world. If you conquer your mind, no one can bring you down. Not even the most influential person can do that.  

Again, here I don’t mean that be overly cunning, unfaithful or irresponsible, because this will create the fear of future. It might continuously hurt you and be a hurdle in your life’s path. Many times, we go with the flow, just to adjust to this fear of failure. Fear of failing, losing something or being left alone are few of the detrimental factors that come in the way of our decisions.

Fear and other emotions

In my view, the deadliest fear is that of fear as an emotion or “emotional fear”. This fear is the biggest & most common fear. Every individual might go through emotion setbacks. However, this can lead to anxiety, a feeling of worry and nervousness. Sometimes, it related to uncertain outcomes.  

In an emotional situation, we are often forced to feel guilty by someone, which makes us anxious. This leads to fear of our own inherent emotions. This is also because we do not open up to our families.

We hate feeling vulnerable and cling to express. Notably, in India, we hardly open up our families because our families constantly remind us of the societal rules that we consider more or less irrelevant.

We missed it somewhere down the line that we also make the society we fear. However, despite that, it over-powers us.

I feel, the biggest reason that in India, we think we have failed professionally, because of some emotional fear that our family ingrains in us. Like you have to be successful because someone else child is considered more successful. We have to do certain things because our peers are doing so. Moreover, because they couldn’t succeed in certain aspects, we have to fulfil their dreams as well. Fear is the reason we do not realize early in life what we want or aspire to become. We end up being frustrated and hopeless. Fear is more complex than just forgetting or deleting memories, an active and successful approach involves people repeatedly confronting their fears. By confronting their fears in a safe manner a person can suppress the “fear-triggering memories” or stimuli.

So, next time, when you feel afraid, of anything, just sit down, relax and hold on to yourself for only two minutes. Think and ask yourself, why and what you fear of? And what will it lead you to? If you get these answers, honestly, you will say goodbye to your fears. 

Share your thoughts, let me know what you think about Fear in the comments section below.

Happy musings!