Fear is a response related to something in the past or witnessed through a tertiary source. Fear is often summed up as a physiological reaction or paranoia; however, fear is only a thought. This thought sometimes prepares us for similar events in the future or creates an irrational reaction compared to what is actually happening.
How many times has a person nicked themselves and continued on with their day? They do not feel the pain until acknowledging they were cut. Later they becomes ill for no reason. Reflecting on the past they realize the wound became infected and now they are suffering to the point of needing emergency attention.
The event did not merit a fear response, until it expanded into a harmful situation. After this, the person gets a nick and dowses it with rubbing alcohol so the same event does occur again regardless of whether or not the infection spreads.
This is a small issue and easily treatable; however, there are many larger events in a person's life. As before, until circumstances prove harmful the fear response does not exist. People do insane things every day: race cars, get drunk, go into unsafe places, open their homes to strangers and so-on. Often the experience is rewarding. We make friends and acquire life experiences. After suffering and analyzing the situation an attachment is made to the event and fear response is generated.
Imagine going to school. You meet and talk to people everyday. Then you meet someone who is generally disliked. As a mature person, you want to know them better. Initially it is fun until you find out they stole your clothes or spoke negatively about you behind your back to make friends with other people. The reason for their scorn begins to make sense.
Thinking about the situation decide everyone knows you, so they will be able to tell they are lying; however, your reputation changes. Feeling let down by people that should have known better the situation creates uncertainty. Attempting to reclaim popularity through gossip eventually the reputation is disserved and empathy for all other people disappears.
Talking to someone created an unacceptable reaction. Now you must figure out how to reclaim what was lost. Fear disables a person because they develop barriers of hate and anger. Perhaps they become less willing to talk to strangers, retaliate against people who judged them or recognize the value of listening to warnings from their friends. In any case, fear works against preparing a logical solution to the issue.
A person has to recreate and remember the wider array of people and types of people who were trustworthy. While there were one or two mean people in their lives there were many nice people. They must go against the fear response to talk to people and clear up internal and external issues. They must let go of fear.
People remain in denial for a long time before sorting out thoughts because they are still gaining something out of the experience. Until thoughts solidify the ongoing situation is unstoppable. That is why fear can become a prominent part of a person's psyche. When the fear is recognized they want to push everything away. The problem continues until they can clearly see the problem, form a resolution or accept what happened identifying how to avoid similar events.
Fear is also developed through tertiary sources. This happens when someone explains the consequences of actions. For example at driver's training the teacher told us about how a group of teens wanted to know why truckers had special off-ramps. Other teens sped down the mountain and down the road to find a large pit of sand meant to stop truckers when their brakes go out. They plunged into the sand, burying the car. The teens did not have CB equipment in their car, so if they do not die from suffocation eventually a cargo truck landed on top of the car. Missing teens were found when digging a trucker out of the sand pit.
The imagery is intense. The parable is to observe and understand government signs are posted for a reason. A person only has to obey the sign to avoid a life threatening situation. If a person has to know what it is for, they can look it up on the Internet or go to the public safety department for brochures. This example makes people shiver when passing trucker off-ramps in the mountains; however, it becomes an overwhelming fear when someone is compelled to search for people everyday, placing themselves in danger because a large truck could use the off-ramp at any time.
The most consuming fear is one rendering a person helplessness or in danger. When we believe we cannot change ourselves or others instinctual behavior overrides logical approaches when the stimulus appears. Fear becomes the greatest adversary when a person blocks out thoughts in order to not feel afraid. The best way to deal with fear is to understand the source and look at it in an unbiased fashion. Let related thoughts come into focus then evaluate how to address the problem whether it is a fear of being like your family or lurking dangers.
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