Why are We Afraid, Why Do We Fear

Psychology Today (www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/fear) states, “Fear is a vital response to physical and emotional danger with strong roots in human evolution. If we didn’t feel fear, we couldn’t protect ourselves from legitimate threats, which in our ancestral world frequently resulted in life-or-death consequences. In the modern world, we often fear situations where the stakes are much lower, but our body and brain are still treating the threat as lethal. This can trigger an extreme, and oftentimes unnecessary, fight-flight-or-freeze response. As a result, we may find ourselves avoiding challenges that could benefit us in the long run or hanging back during social interactions for no good reason. When people today face deadly or extreme danger, it can sometimes result in lingering trauma. These traumas can trigger a fear response within us that is hard to quell, even when we are no longer at risk.” Isaiah 35:4 states, “Say to those who have an anxious heart, Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” And yet many of us go through life afraid of everything. Fear stops many people from functioning in productive ways, keeps us from trying new things, halts us from meeting new people, and stifles growth in our careers and relationships. How many times have we all reframed from trying something new to better ourselves because we feared failure. We worry that someone will make fun of us, be disappointed in our actions, think less of us because things did not turn out right, and as a result, we do not try. But by not trying we guaranteed that success would have no chance.
Leslie Becker-Phelps Ph.D., in Psychology Today (Jun 09, 2015) writes, “Everyone has fears – that doesn’t mean there’s anything seriously wrong. But if your fears prevent you from doing things that you truly want to do, then you have a real problem. And, of course, the more that important areas of your life are affected, the more of a problem you have. Fortunately, big or small, you don’t have to be a victim of them.” Jon Kim (https://www.mindbodygreen.com) states, “We all have fear. If we didn’t feel fear, we wouldn’t be alive. But there’s a big difference between having fear and being driven by your fears. Most people are driven by their fears, leading them to make (or avoid making) particular decisions that pull them down a dark, sticky dead-end road.” Both Dr. Becker-Phelps and Mr. Kim suggest that we should pay attention and identify what causes the fear and admit that we are afraid of something and to not beat ourselves up because of the fear. They both go on to tell us to face the fear and to decide we are wary of allowing it to control us. Sometimes by simply acknowledging a fear, it becomes easy to abolish it from our daily lives. If we address one fear at a time we will not be overwhelmed and can take back our peace of mind that we all deserve.
Many times, we create false fears and test ourselves to see if we can overcome the imaginary obstacles. We want a new job responsibility, but we are afraid to ask for it because we fear rejection. The worse that could happen is we are told no, but that creates an opportunity for us to ask what we need to do to accomplish the promotion. We may want to join a new group and to become active in the community, but we are afraid they will not accept us into the group. We can become completely stagnate if we allow our fears to triumph. We need to look at these fears as an opportunity. Once we accept this thinking our fears will not go away but will become a tool to be used to advance ourselves. 2 Timothy 1:7 states, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Luke 1:37 reminds us “For nothing will be impossible with God.”