Fear is probably one of the most crippling emotions in the human psyche. It affects our lives every day, whether in large ways or small. At one extreme we have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). This is common among our returning veterans and has always been a side effect of war. During WWII it was called “Shell Shock.”
But PTSD has many causes. Most common are childhood traumas such as emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Regardless of the causes, the symptoms are similar. They include nightmares, a tendency toward isolation, difficulties in relationships, and hyper-vigilance. Someone with PTSD is easily startled and overreacts to simple surprises.
On the other end of the spectrum are the simple daily fears we all experience. One could make a huge list of recognized phobias, some more common and some more debilitating than others. While most of us do not have recognizable or diagnosable phobias, most of us do have fears.
Common fears that may not greatly interfere with a healthy functioning life would be a small fear of flying. Some may be nervous about meeting new people. Some are afraid to try new things or go to new places. There is the fear of failure and the fear of success. There is always the fear of a negative self-image, the fear that we might be perceived in some negative way by others or might actually be inferior to others. Then there is the number one fear, public speaking.
Aside from the serious and debilitating fears of PTSD and recognized phobias, that can also be debilitating, most fears are small but can cause serious problems by their cumulative nature. A modern problem in the U.S. is an ongoing level of unease, a kind of undercurrent of fear or worry. Many Americans operate at a certain level of anxiety. This gets better and gets worse but for many it is a constant companion. It can easily lead to depression.
It can be argued that modern Americans have a lot to worry about, especially in the opening months of 2008. Things seem to be unraveling a bit. But it’s possible that our level of anxiety or fear is not really natural and it may be possible to address it and bring about a significant reduction on a daily basis.
Robert Sapolsky, Professor of Biological Sciences, and Professor of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford University, wrote a book entitled “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers: A Guide to Stress-Related Diseases and Coping.” What Sapolsky points out is the difference between dealing with stress in the animal kingdom as opposed to human coping.
Essentially, a zebra, or other wild prey animal, will experience fear and the physiological stressors that go with it when attacked. The fight-flight reaction gives them the energy to run and the ability to recover from superficial wounds. If you watch programs on Discovery or National Geographic, you will see that as soon as a lion catches its prey or gets pooped out and quits chasing the zebras, the zebras stop running and start eating the grass again.
Wild animals experience and express fear only when they are in real danger. They respond to attacks with the appropriate behavior. What humans are capable of is imagining dangers that have not happened yet and may never happen. We can also continue to be stressed by something that happened in the past, something animals seem incapable of.
Because of this, humans walk around every day with low levels of fear, anxiety, and worry even when nothing bad is actually happening to them. Being in a chronic low level of the flight-fright reaction is very damaging to the body, especially the immune system. Even low levels of chronic fear can kill us prematurely or just make us sick.
I believe that much of this chronic worry or fear is habitual. We have always worried and it seems natural to us. We don’t really know how to stop it. I have seen people who are quite calm who actually have lots of things to worry about. I have seen others who worry all the time who have almost nothing to worry about.
It is clear that our fears and anxieties, whether real or imagined, are not good for our mental or physical health. Overcoming fears is one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves and it change our lives in wonderful ways.
One of the first things we can do is try to get ourselves out of any fear-provoking situations that exist in our lives. It could be a job. It could be a relationship. It could mean moving to another neighborhood, if possible. The second thing to do is learn some Zen detachment. Many of our fears are not real and it is possible to develop a positive habit of not worrying.
Since worrying or being afraid is a waste of time and energy, because they do not change anything, we can practice releasing our fears whenever they show their ugly faces. If there are real things to be afraid of, we need to address them when they come up. If there’s nothing we can do about them in the present, then we can banish them from our mind.
As Paul Atreides (Muad’Dib) said in the movie, “Dune,” “Fear is the mind-killer.” Either we control our fear or our fear controls us.
