So I had a realization while taking friend to get teeth pulled today. He is going under because the dentist is pulling four teeth. 😳
He told me that he has the fear that he is actually being euthanized. He knows it is irrational but the fear is still very real, to them!
My realization was that it is easy to point to larger fears like Clowns, Snakes, Spiders or the Dark, however there are little irrational fears that haunt us. I am not sure most of us even realize we are carrying these fears or that they play a factor in our lives.
We are built, well most of us, to know how to instinctively survive. Don’t stick your hand on a hot stove, stay out of a polar bear cage, don’t eat a box marked poison, don’t swim in ponds in Florida (Alligators 🐊). I could of course list a ton of examples, but what about when there is not a survival reason for the fear and when nothing has ever happened to warrant it?
How is this explained other than irrational?
I know there are even layers to these kind of fears.
If asked, I would say that I don’t have any fears. But I know there are times I have become uncomfortable, ill at ease, jumpy, or even afraid when certain circumstances occur. A weird noise when walking down a dark hallway at work. The building is secure, others are working, so why is the immediate emotion towards fear instead of curiosity?
It is something that definitely has me looking at things differently today.