Fear is one of our most intriguing emotions. What is it that triggers our fears and how can it be explained? Instinctively, one is likely to be afraid of something that endangers their own selves or loved ones. All of this can be explained through the workings of the body and how we react to stressors in our environment. But, as I’m neither a biologist or psychologist, I’ll save the explanation for someone more qualified.
One thing I can speak to, however, is irrational fears. The existence of such a thing appears to one every so often, interacting with friends and family, meeting new people, and most anything else are places we can find these fears in ourselves or others. So, even when there is “irrational” in the word, why is it that people continue to have these fears? Asking myself, who as a child was anxious about many things, now with a much more relaxed demeanor, maybe the answer is more simple than we expect.
Take it from my old irrational fear number one. About four years old, I was playing in the lawn on my own. Out of nowhere a husky came rushing through the bushes across the yard. I ran as fast as I could to safety with the dog on my heels. At the time of the action, I was certainly afraid of the dog, and that could likely be explained. For the time after that, to be afraid of any other dog was totally irrational. The nicest dogs would send me packing all because of an unlucky encounter with the initial one.
So how do we figure out that a fear is irrational, by facing them of course. As I grew older I was around more and more dogs, to which I soon realized are much nicer than the one I had encountered before. Other things like fear of heights were never overcome until cliff jumping at Lake George. All of these minor examples help to prove the point that we can easily overcome our irrational fears.
One such irrational fear that carries a lot of weight these days is the fear of the unknown. “The unknown” can mean a lot of things to people. The deepest parts of the ocean, space, but most recently, and most tragically, we have focused the unknown as other people. With the mentality that other people can be completely unknown sparks fear in others. And this is an awful complexity of our minds. Often fear can lead to violence, prejudice, and who knows what other atrocities. This accepted “reality” of the day and age is something that needs to be changed from the ground up. And giving the people you usually wouldn't interact with a chance can go a long way. Even save a life.
