Problems may not be in the real danger we may face. We may ourselves be responsible for generating more fear than the situation itself creates. Our minds can sometimes be our worst enemy in giving life, like a true image, to these imaginary dangers we have all suffered.
When the feeling of fear invades us, our body activates a circuit to protect us and prepare to escape, for example, the heart pumps faster in case it is necessary to run, if more sweat occurs, the breathing accelerates, the digestive and immune systems stop wasting energies in case it is necessary to fight or flee, and a lot of blood is concentrated in the lower limbs in case we need to run.
- All these reactions occur thanks to our survival instinct.
- A system ready to react quickly to danger.
- It is because of it that fear alerts us and keeps us active.
The problem with fear in today’s society is that most of the coping responses we must give to counteract a perceived threat are not physical responses. We’re no longer being chased by lions. On the contrary, in many cases, the most adaptive responses are intellectual or do not require physical wear and tear, however, our bodies continue to react in the same way they reacted centuries ago.
In this sense, if there is some kind of danger against which energy expenditure is useless, they are imaginary hazards What happens if the plane crashes?Will anyone chase me down this street?Can my children go home alone, will my partner leave me?All of this activates the circuit explained above and keeps the body on alert, causing blood pressure spikes that don’t make sense because we won’t have to run.
As researcher Robert Sapolsky explains, imaginary dangers create physiological and psychic wear and tear by unconscious associations that we reinforce precisely by doing them frequently. It is curious to think that in animals the mechanisms of fear are only activated when danger is real. All your circuits only start working when your life is in danger.
Just as the imagination can activate these circuits, we must use the same imagination to know how to stop them, if we are able to imagine everything negative that can happen to us, we can also put into practice the will to calm our body. imagining the opposite, that is, the positive that can also happen.
We have the power, by controlling our thoughts, to stop the relentless heartbeat of our hearts, the tremor of muscles or the sweat of the hands. Unpleasant expressions and little help in the face of an intellectual problem.
The feeling of fear protects us, but it also prevents us from leaving our comfort zone. Supported by survival instinct, the brain activates the fear circuit whenever it finds it in potentially dangerous situations, to avoid suffering the damage it anticipates.
On the other hand, knowing our fears will give us the ability to take them into account, but it will never let them decide what to do, it is about listening to the emotion, not following it with our eyes closed, it is important to value emotion. dangers that can run when entering a place that is not mastered, unknown, but it is also important to balance what can be gained. In many cases, the risk is worth it.
We cannot give up something every time the fear circuit is activated, it is necessary to acquire the tools that allow us to manage situations in which fear is present, so that the result ends up being the best.
Fear is an emotion that we must or cannot in any way remove from our emotional palette, but it is up to us to identify when it points to a real danger or when the stimulus that produces it is a threat only in our imagination. , but sometimes letting go or giving a chance at risk is what moves us forward.