What is fear? The answer to that question depends on who you ask. Humans have a way of being very different from each other in this area. You may be terrified to try something new while your spouse gets very excited over the possibilities and the unknown. You may be fearful when it comes to speaking in public while other people thrive on the attention and that fact that they have the ability to captivate an audience in the process.

Some people are afraid of things such as the dark, clowns, or mice. Others are afraid of concepts such as death and the fear that they will end up alone. Regardless of what causes the fear it will evoke a response that is very powerful. It can be very emotional as well for someone. It can be even harder when your parents or your family don’t understand your fear.

I have known children to get into trouble for telling their parents about their fears. They were dismissed and basically told to get over it. Fear isn’t something a person can just get over though. It can have a very deep seeded connection with who they are and control many aspects of their life. Those that don’t understand the fear of those around them may not have the patience to accept it or to try to encourage them to move forward.

A fear a person has can be very short term or very long lasting. For example a young girl with braces may have the fear of smiling. After a while though she moves past this. Other types of fear though such as dying may consume a person and they aren’t able to shake the concept. Counseling may be necessary in order to help the person identify that source of the fear.

It takes a great deal of courage though to really find out the core of a fear. Sometimes it is something easily resolved and other times it isn’t. Yet if the fear is consuming you then you need to do something about it. Life is too short for a person to walk around being afraid all of the time. Fear can sometimes give us the motivation though that we need to take some type of positive action.