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Fear: why are we so scared?

by Rosie G.

The other day I was reading Conversations with God: An Uncommon Dialogue, that said as human beings we are ruled by two emotions, either love or fear. We seem to be most controlled by fear than love these days. How do we come to fear so much? I say it starts from when we are children, because our parents begin to caution us against certain dangers. We have all been told not to talk to strangers or accept candy from strangers….and so it begins.

As we get older certain situations will create fear, especially when we start school. How many times did your teacher make you do a verbal report in front of the class? Now you know why some people have a fear of public speaking. Here are some other things we fear; fear of the dark, fear of heights, fear of insects, fear of the unknown, fear of germs, fear of enclosed places, fear of flying and the most popular fear of death. I can understand where many of these fears come from and I’m sure we can try to conquer these fears in time.

Illustration by Doug Savage, Founder of Savage Chickens

Since 9/11, we have come to fear a lot more especially with terrorism in our country and abroad. Our former administration instilled fear in all of us, so much so, that now if you ride the trains everyone is staring at anyone that gets on or off the train. We jump at anything that sounds like an explosion and forget about it if you see helicopters hovering above for too long. The media also plays a very big part in our fears because of the constant barrage of images they continuously play over and over. Our newspapers are full of news stories that have us in fear. There was even a story last week about why we have so much anxiety…when will it stop!

So how do we get over our fears you may ask. Well, certain fears are valid and others may be from childhood traumas – these I believe can be overcome by either conquering them ourselves or going to therapy. Others may be hard to overcome, because we can’t predict what will happen to our planet or our life. The only thing we can do is give thanks we are alive and try to fill our lives with joy and stay focused on whatever plans we have made. In other words try to have as much love as possible in your life and live in that emotion, this way fear does not control you. I leave you with this saying: “Live well, laugh often, love much.”


Contributor, Rosie G.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and should not be understood to be shared by Being Latino, Inc.

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Posted on April 12, 2011 at 8:15 am in Lifestyle   |  RSS feed

3 Comments to “Fear: why are we so scared?”

    
  1. Jose Luis
    April 12, 2011 at 11:05 am

    NOT!!! The only reason we, as a country, are living in fear is because of the “fear mongorers” who live amongst us and control the news and media. My fears, definitely did not come from my parents or the household I grew up in. This fear is placed upon us by the Republicans who love instilling fear and insecurity amongst us. Look what they did with the Patriot Act. It was written out of FEAR created by our politicians.

  2. Jorge Chacon Sandoval
    April 12, 2011 at 11:35 am

    We definitely have to unite ourselves to become a happier society free of fear, poverty, hate, racism, the unknown. I remember as a child staring onto the skies with wonderment and wandering into the consciousness and beauty of my soul. Nice article, Rosie G.

  3. Nancy Sepulveda
    April 12, 2011 at 7:08 pm

    Hmmm, you’ve definitely made a good point and there ARE those people who let their fears (whether learned through upbringing, experience or the media) overtake their lives.

    On the other end of the spectrum, there’s a whole other group of people who I don’t think have ENOUGH fear! Being afraid implies a certain level of awareness — which, yes, can be taken to an extreme — that some people simply lack. The “OMG-did-you-see-what-Kim-Kardashian-was-wearing,” gourmet-coffee-slurping, the-world-revolves-around-me-and-my-drama group that exists in a bubble of self-centered ignorance. Now that is truly scary!