Understanding Our Fears And Dealing With Them (At Your Own Pace)
By Alison Ortiz
It’s hard to not always think about fear. Nowadays, fear surrounds us. The fear of the unknown…even fear of the known. Fear tends to fuel most of our decisions. But what if we didn’t know that fear even existed? Why do we have to be scared?
Think of the first time that babies fly on an airplane. The only reason they start to cry is from discomfort, they’re so young that they don’t know all the potential dangers of flying. In this sense, they’re not being ignorant, they’re just unaware of the ways of the world. Now, fast forward to your adult years. You’re sitting on a plane praying that whatever higher power you believe in ensures that you have a safe flight. You’ve read stories, seen movies, or even experienced plane failures. You have these thoughts embedded in your brain. You are well aware that something could go wrong.
But why must we think like this? Obviously being totally ignorant is not the way to live your life, however, whoever said, “Ignorance is bliss,” was definitely on to something. We, as a society, let fear fuel every single decision we make. A man could go years without telling the love of his life how he feels because he is afraid of rejection. He knows that rejection could be a consequence of his proclamation of love. He doesn’t immediately think of the fact that the woman who he is in love with could possibly love him back. He could go on for years, never making a move, never moving on, because he is just terrified of the fact that this love of his could only ever exist in his mind.
Similar to pilots after takeoff, we need to start going about things like love in a way that makes us understand that we will get from point A to point B in one piece. We must stop thinking of the crash, and instead start thinking about the smooth landing. I know that you don’t exactly know if the love of your life loves you back, just as much as you don’t exactly know that you will get to your destination in tact. But, you also don’t know anything to the contrary!
It’s a blissful and also naïve way of going about life, but why must we always act like adults when it comes to situations like love. No matter which way you go about it, you may or may not come out on top — but dealing with the situation with the less anxiety and doubt as possible, is definitely a good way of going about it.