Enter the fear

At the core of every living being is fear. An alert system wired into biology over millions of years. Even a bacterium has a built-in mechanism that steers it away from harm. No consciousness needed. Self-preservation comes first, everything else is built on top.

It starts in the reptilian brain. Then travels through the limbic system, where it gets mixed with other signals.

Fear takes on different forms. It becomes greed — wanting more. It becomes envy — wanting what others have. It becomes jealousy — guarding what you think is yours.

It pulls us back, limiting our options. It whispers into our ears:

— You’re not going to make it. It’s too risky. They will laugh. They will judge you. You don’t need it. Everything is fine.

And instead of creating our lives we sit with an anxious heart, literally paralyzed by imaginary troubles of the unknown waves yet to come.

We sit suspended between what’s to come and what’s already been, wanting control over things we can’t predict or reverse.

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” — Mark Twain

When real fear is absent, we construct more complex emotions rooted in it. Greed is the fear of loss, jealousy is the fear of not being loved, envy is the fear of not being “enough”. In the end, we’re afraid of fear itself.

We cry wolf, but the wolf never comes. And while we cry, something real is happening. Fear that doesn’t leave has a price.