What Scares You?

A common theme on Project Dreamscape, is analyzing the things that scare us.

While we all have different things that frighten us, and my irrational fear of the dark might be quite different than your fear of high places, all our shared experiences, genetics, and culture, bind us in many common fears.

Here is a list of the top five things that scare us:

Fear of public speaking affects a lot of us.

5. Fear of Spiders.

Admit it, you can’t help but jump, cringe, scream when one of these eight-legged hairballs shuffles out from a corner. They move fast and seem unpredictable. And despite the fact that most spider bites are not deadly, we instinctively are afraid they will bite us.

4. Fear of the Dark.

A hold over from our primitive nature, a fear of the dark helped us stay alive. Many predators hunt at night. This fear was a powerful survival mechanism for our ancient ancestors.

Remember that irrational fear you had as a child, the one where you were terrified to hang your foot or leg off the bed because then the monsters could grab you? That is an evolutionary trait. Imagine an animal in a nest or nestled high in a tree. The one with a paw hanging out was easier for the passing cheetah to grab.

3. Fear of Flying.

We are at once enthralled with being able to fly and also terrified of it. How many times haven’t we imagined what it would be like to soar like a bird and sail through the clouds? But many surveys show that a lot of us also have deep fears about being up in the sky in an airplane.

Many who have this condition say it is because they don’t like not being in control. The fear is not so much about the plane crashing, but is rooted in their inability to do anything if something goes wrong.

2. Fear of Public Speaking.

Being in front of an audience is one of the most terrifying experiences for many. The fear stems from not wanting to be judged or criticized. Admit it, humans like to poke fun of and find negative things to say about those among us who step into the spotlight. He love to hate our celebrities.

Being the center of attention causes a lot of anxiety in some people. Oddly there are also those who thrive on the rush that speaking in public offers.

1. Fear of Death.

Death is the Ultimate Fear

We touched on this in an earlier post about sharing the same fears as our evolutionary cousins. While many may claim to not be afraid of death, there is no denying that the fear of what happens when we die isn’t the number one motivator for countless mythologies and religions throughout time.

So while people may claim to not fear death because they know their spirit will live on, the reality is their fear of death is what drove them to the conclusion (for right or wrong) that they have an immortal soul. Believing in an afterlife gives us comfort in the face of death. Just because we wrap ourselves in a blanket of spirituality, it doesn’t mean the underlying fear isn’t still there.