Did you know that not all human fear is the same? Actually, the ways in which we react to fear are often fairly similar, but the things that cause us to experience fear vary greatly from person to person. For example, while most of us will likely experience physiological changes (i.e. a rapid heart rate, shallow breathing) while experiencing fear, what is most interesting is how we individually assess what we should fear. In sports, while one athlete might shake when confronted with the prospect of guarding a bigger and more physical opponent, a second athlete might relish that same confrontation, and rather than experience fear, he or she instead becomes excited about the personal challenge.
Breaking down human fear
One of the first ways to begin to take control over human fear is to better understand the differences between real, physical, harms-way fear, compared to irrational, non-physically harmful, psychological fear. Real fear, as defined for the purposes of this column, is the kind of fear that alerts us to potentially dangerous situations, including the following:
Real fear
- Running through busy traffic with cars swerving from hitting you as you race to the other side of the street unharmed.
- Frantically swimming away from hungry alligators in a lake.
- Jumping off a high cliff into a body of water that you have never jumped into before.
In the three examples above you can easily see the potential fatal outcomes that could occur in each of these events, thereby making each experience something you should feel somewhat fearful about. But what about other, less dangerous life situations that still arouse the same fearful emotions? For example, the situations below often prompt us to experience fear, yet we are not in harms way as we were in the previous examples:
Psychological fear
- Standing in front of a group of people moments before delivering an important speech and thinking about how the crowd perceives you.
- Asking a prospective partner out on a first date.
- Walking into a new job interview and preparing to successfully answer questions that will give you the best chance for the job.
While there is little physical danger in the examples above, many people still experience the physical symptoms of fear. These physiological responses include increases in heart rate, perspiration, stomach butterflies, and muscle tightness — in fact, the anxiety symptoms experienced speaking in front of a group of people might be exactly the same as jumping out of the way of an out-of-control car swerving toward you. Totally different stimuli, but remarkably similar human responses.
Final thoughts
When we pause to think about the things that drive our fear and anxiety, only then can we properly dissect and organize our thinking and the emotions that follow. An important step in the process of breaking down fear is to distinguish physical threats from psychological threats, and then develop strategic responses to each experience. Fear is a part of life, but not everything that makes us fearful leads to potential physical harm, and understanding these differences can make a huge quality in the quality of your life.
drstankovich.com
