Day 4 - What is Fear?

Fear is something that everyone has, whether it affects the person in a big way or not, everyone has something that they fear. Fears can vary from being scared of the dark to tsunamis to roller coasters. Some people had fears as a child and eventually went away when they matured and grew older. For others, their fears have stuck with them for their whole life.

Some fears can affect people in such a way where they can never forget about the fear and it’s constantly on their mind. Or maybe seeing something that reminds a person of their fear can trigger the fear in their mind. For example, one of my friends, Isabel, is extremely afraid of tsunamis, whenever she sees a wave that is a little over the average size, she completely freaks out. She isn’t usually afraid of tsunamis unless she is at a beach, where she would have a better chance of getting hurt from it. Similar to Isabel, my fear of bees isn’t going through my mind constantly, instead only when I’m near one. I think that many people can relate to this feeling because there are times when you’re more fearful about something than others.

Another one of my friends is Marie-Louise, and one of her fears is of roller coasters. While talking to her, she told me, “I’ve never been on a roller coaster before, but for some reason just the look of them frighten me.” Although this may sound crazy to some people, I can totally relate. Roller coasters scare the crap out of me. I’m not sure if it’s because of all of the screams I hear from people on them, or the fact that they just look intimidating. Marie Curie once said, “Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood.” I’ve always wanted to face my fear of roller coasters, but chicken out at the last second. I think that if I were to go on one, I would really like them and finally understand why so many people like them so much.

Fear is just an obstacle in life that people have to either overcome, or make the best out of their situation. Although Isabel is very afraid of tsunamis, she still makes the best time out of her beach vacation. She doesn’t allow it to get in the way of her having fun. Similar to Isabel, I don’t let my fears affect me in a huge way and I hope that it can stay like that.