“Ladies and gentlemen, we are now experiencing some turbulence, please remain in your seat and fasten your seat belt,” Said in the flight podcast. I could see the wings shaking and feel the weight loss in the middle of the sky. My hands sweating, I held the handle tight. The screaming of some kids in the cabin was harsh. I couldn't help but be afraid of the turbulence.
I was on a vacation with my family for Chinese Spring Festival. And this flight was meant to take us home safe and sound. After we finally landed on the ground. I thought about my fear. I found out that my fear of the turbulence is actually a very good example to illustrate fear. Hence, I will invite my psychology loving character out and talk about fear for a little bit. Don’t worry, the following context won’t be like a psychology textbook.
Would you believe it if I say that fear resembles a virus? Well, it’s true. Fear, like a virus, can spread. I, for instance, was in a plane with lots of kids. When the flight began to be turbulent, the kids began to scream. Their feeling of fear “infected” me and enlarged my fear. Not only in a small group of people, fear can spread all over the globe. Terrorist attacks that have been covered by the news agencies affect people everywhere. People will be afraid or be alarmed when there are strange objects put in front of them or some strange voices heard like gun shots. This kind of fear has an official name: Social Communication Fear. So, if you don’t want to be freak out, be with some dauntless people.
Most of our fears, like mine, are learned by experience. I got this fear of turbulence from my first time on a roller-coaster. My nose was injured and blood went all over my face. This freaked the 8-year-old me out. Believe it or not, we can easily grow fear of a blue square by receiving electric shocks when we see them. Fortunately, as long as these fears were learned, they can be eliminated easily - with repetitions of stable flight. Similarly, next time when you are afraid of something, just try some peaceful interactions with it, and you will get better day by day.
Finally, fear is not a bad thing. Actually, we humans are blessed to have a very advanced system of fear. As we know, the amygdaloid is the gland in charge of our fear. Our primitive actions toward fear, like run away or fight against, are controlled by amygdaloid (Sorry I have to be like psychology teacher for a moment). But neuroscientists have discovered that our fear system is far more than this. Fear is related to our our logical prefrontal lobe and imagination. Humans are the only animal we know now that can predict the future of ourselves. So when we feel fear, we activate our imagination and think about what is going to happen next. Fear is like a story teller by itself. About fear and imagination, novelist Karen Thompson Walker have more than I can say. So I put the link below and you guys can check out this great TED talk.
No one on earth is absolutely fearless. Fear protects us from all kinds of danger. And our understanding and perspective toward fear is going to determine how well we can deal with it.
http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_thompson_walker_what_fear_can_teach_us