Let’s Talk Fear
Can You think About It Differently?
I looked around. The supermarket was relatively less crowded on that weekday morning. The cashier stood in front of me, with a bright wide smile. Reaching for my pocket, I realised I forgot the money bag. That’s the first!
Flipping through the pages, I realised how much I was yet to revise. It was 7 pm, the evening before my half-yearly examination. The thought of under-preparing haunted me, even though I had done a decent amount of studying throughout the months preceding any exam. That’s the second!
Walking up the stairs, the first sound of water splashing over mothers and their babies, young girls and middle-aged women reached my ears. The coach whistled and my heart escaped one more beat. What if I drown? That’s the third!
As I brainstormed for my first blog on Medium (I actually didn’t; just a mental thought process you can say), the first thought that bothered me was: Can I do it? Should I even bother typing silly things on an open platform where highly intellectual people pen down their highly sophisticated thoughts? That’s the fourth!
If you’re like me, an amateur writer who writes for fun (I mean, I’ve written things in the past but never really published them professionally), then hello! My name is Nafisa Nawrin Labonno and I am a high school graduate who tries to challenge her fears at most steps of her life.
All four scenarios above are hypothetical extensions of my real-life encounters. No, I did not forget my wallet that day, luckily! Yes, I was worried about being underprepared for middle-school examinations but didn’t let that constant thought haunt me. Yes, I did learn to swim in 27 days without a break back in 8th grade and that was the first time I’d entered a pool (and haven’t visited it since then). The fourth one is the truest of all, but not in its entirety. These situations portray very minute versions of the ‘what if’s of my life and how I tackle fear in general.
Fear can be broadly categorised into two parts:
- Acute Fear: Short-term fear, healthy fear, keeps me in a check-balance mechanism
- Chronic Fear: Long-term, unhealthy version, the evil cousin of acute fear. If you want to blame anything, this is your target!
I believe, individuals can overcome some of their chronic fears by means of pre-mortem instead of the more popular post-mortem — something life taught me when I was entangled in too many unnecessary fears. So the next time any of us faces fears, I’d like them to ask themselves: How much will this fear cost me? Is it worth my (rationality sacrifice and) time?
This blog isn’t verified by a professional so I would love some constructive feedback on how I can improve. Intentionally left the nerdy parts of neuroscientific explanation, psychological behaviour etc. because
a) Self-help books and professionals exist (duh!)
b) I don’t have sufficient materials, knowledge and experience in analysing them. Plus, everything I say in my first blog is pretty much unreliable, eh?
These are taken from anecdotal evidence and are entirely subjective. This blog is a rather step down from hardcore understanding and overanalysing of someone’s situation (I doubt if I have the right to quote it like that) and a mere soft approach from a less-experienced person.
Thanks for reading this far!
