Just a week or so ago I was watching the opening trailers to Captain America: Civil War and one of the seemingly-many irrational fears that plague me on a day-to-day basis reared its terrible teeth. There was a trailer for a movie called The Shallows.

Quick summary: it's about a shark.

I am TERRIFIED of sharks. So much so that I found myself, fifteen minutes later, still struggling to slow down my racing heart. Luckily for me, sharks aren't the only things I'm afraid of! I'm scared of hornets, climbing tall things, snakes and being alone. It's great. Just great.

I'm scared of a lot of things, and I'm sure you are too, but I have a bad habit of assuming that everyone's experience mirrors my own, so I guess all I can do is tell you about my experience. Out of the list of things I'm afraid of, the worst fear I've had was one I didn't even recognize until recently.

My whole life I have been terrified of people.

Sure, I'm a pretty personable guy; I get along with people well; I can hold a conversation; I can even speak in front of crowds sometimes. Even still, people horrify me.

This fear I have, it's not like a horror movie fear, where I'm scared that they're going to jump out and hurt me. No, it's more like a fantasy movie. For me, the fear comes from a haunting feeling that I am stuck on this planet full of humans, alone, and nothing like anyone around me. My whole life I've been struggling against myself. "Who will I be today? Who would they want me to be?" All the while, I hid myself under the bed and called myself the monster.

I could write a book about what scares me about people, and I may do just that, but in the interest of keeping this to 750 words, I'll just sum it up by saying that I have always been afraid that I would never find someone who genuinely cares about what I care about.

Now, that doesn't sound terrible, but let me elaborate just a little bit.

I'm not picky at all, but when I truly care about something, it consumes me. This is true in all circumstances, even with people. When I care about something, or someone, it becomes a part of me. What terrifies me about people, is the potential for me to say "here is a part of me," and for them to say "I don't like it."

As I write this, I can't help but wonder if I'm not alone in this. In fact, I even wonder if we're all this way, at least in some fashion.

The trouble with being afraid of people is that you have too much practice guarding yourself against them. The world is full of them. When I look around, I see a world of people with their guns at the ready, like some worldwide-emotional-standoff.

Some people shoot others down so that they can never be shot. Some shoot themselves so that no one else has the chance to shoot them. The interesting thing is, I don't think that anyone is actually hoping to shoot anyone else purely out of open aggression.

We're all just scared.

Recently, I was asked what advice I would give to my future self, and it wasn't until that moment that I put words to this fear that I had only just started sensing in myself.

"Stop being afraid," I said. "Share who you are; what you care about. Show them your heart." I really do think it's that simple.

Now, simple doesn't mean easy. It may be one of the hardest things I could do. It requires me walking out into the world with my arms open while everyone else has their barrels up, and I may get shot down every once and a while, but I think that's what it takes.

It takes me saying, "Hi, I'm Tyler. This is my heart. It belongs to a great God, and it's full of a longing for lots of great things that are centered mostly around good coffee, good music and good friends. It's also full of love and fear. Take it or leave it, that's up to you."

Now it's your turn.