Understanding Fear: What Is It, and How Does It Affect People?


Fear is a response that people display when they feel as if they are threatened in some way. Fear is felt when someone believes that an action, situation, or person is going to harm them physically or emotionally.  

Basic Human Emotion and Instinct

Fear is one of the most rudimentary human emotions needed for survival. Everyone feels fear at one time or another, but in western society and modern times, most of the time the fear is totally unnecessary. 

However, it is an instinct that has saved us for generations and one to take seriously. You dont want to dismiss all feelings of fear, but you do want to categorize them so that you can move past your fear when its safe to do so.

Fear Versus Anxiety

While both fear and anxiety produce stress responses such as tension, higher pulse, difficulty breathing, and other symptoms that come from our inborn "flight or fight" nature, they are different in that anxiety is more vague, while fear is felt for a known rational threat (unless its a phobia). 

Fear Is Both Bad and Good

Even though most modern peoples fears arent life or death, they are still part of the person. The problem comes if fear is getting in the way of achieving success or enjoying life. If you are too scared to leave the house, thats a crippling fear to have and one that is best worked through with professionals so that you can have a full life. But if you are afraid of that spider, there may be a good reason.

Common Fears

The most common fears involve fear of dirt, flying, speaking, storms, and fear of open spaces. Only a couple of those come with the potential for death, even if very rare. Common fears can be worked through once acknowledged carefully and purposefully so that you can eliminate roadblocks in your life. 

Overcoming Fear

One problem with avoiding fear is that it can cause you to be stuck in your life, stagnant, and going nowhere fast. Its normal to avoid fear, though, so its best to write down your fears and determine which ones arent helping you so that you can work toward overcoming those that are stifling your life. 

Analyze each fear to see whether its something you need to be fearful of or something irrational and maybe even unreasonable. If its something holding you back from success in some area of your life, get help to overcome it - even if its a real fear such as fear of flying as compared to a fear of being abducted by aliens. 

Everyone experiences fear. Sometimes its helpful and sometimes its not. Its how you react to it and work around it that matters. Dont allow fear to stop you from achieving or doing anything that you want to do. If the fear is real but you really want to do something, working through the fear can make all the difference. 



