Fear is a powerful emotion. It is something that stops brilliant people achieving amazing things. It is something that can be rational or irrational and often just plain weird. Yet studies have now shown that we are only born with two fears, all the others we have simply found along the way. Read on to find out more.
When we are born we are afraid of two things. The fear of falling and loud noises. These two fears must come from our evolution. The fear of falling was likely a preordained behavior as without it babies would not hold on to their mothers as they moved from place to place. Having small babies hold on makes everything a lot safer. Loud noises also probably meant danger was close so babies are pre-conditioned to react badly.
Yet then why are so many people afraid of public speaking? Why are so many people afraid of clowns? While some fears like deadly snakes make sense others are just strange. Of course, people learn intelligent behavior as they grow up. They either read or are told about deadly spiders and so develop a very rational fear.
Public speaking though is one of the most common fears in the modern world. It appears modern people are incredibly insecure about how they appear in front of their peers and so the idea of putting it all on the line, standing up and saying something ridiculous can cripple them with fear. While we learn these behaviors from our environment, family, and friends we are not slaves to them.
The fact that many of our fears are behaviors we have learned, means that they are behaviors we can unlearn. If you have a fear that is impacting your everyday life then face it. You have the power to overcome it and you will be a stronger person after doing it. Believe in yourself, don’t believe in your fears.
