fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Why do Students Fear Mathematics?
By: Devika Nambisan
Tags: Fear, Math

I have heard multiple times from friends that they hate maths, and anything related to it. I had asked them once the reason for it, and one of my friends said,“ it is so boring, numbers. I am never going to use maths ever in my life again”. I remember thinking, “but, doesn’t everything we do involve maths?”. I remember leaving my thought unfinished. After some time, that thought came into my mind again, and I explored more on it. I found out that many students don’t like/fear maths because they don’t enjoy it. Now, think about this, are you afraid of something you enjoy or love? I hope that your answer is NO, so try and enjoy maths like you do for other subjects, because it is not an insect. ( This is not applicable for other fears :))

I wanted to share my reason for loving maths, so here’s my story:

I moved to Texas from India in 2017. I was a very advanced student in India and I used to get A + on all my exams (maths, science, english, hindi, etc..). However, with all that said, I had trouble belonging in US, and especially maths. The reason for that was because of the way math questions were worded, it wasn’t straightforward, like it was in India.

For example, in India the question would be,

“solve for x, 2x + 3x = 20”

However, in US, the question would be,

“ Amy bought 2 apples and John bought 3 apples, together they spent $20, what was the price of an apple?”

As you can see above, the questions are both the same, and I knew how to solve the first one when I was 12 years old, but I was unable to use the context to make the second question into an equation that I could solve for.

I went through this issue for the first semester of my 7th grade, and my teacher suggested that I move into an easier math level because I was struggling. When she said so, I felt the need to prove myself, and I spent so much time and effort that I finally understood how to make the context-type questions into equations, or whatever I needed to do with them. Finally, in the next test, I scored a 100, and the teacher was very impressed.

This incident in my life helped me to work towards something, and my mother and my teacher really helped me in overcoming this issue. This experience made me fall in love with maths, and from that point, I have enjoyed every math class that I ever took, and I believe that I will continue to be in the Data Science and Applied Mathematics field in college and after graduation.

Now, you must be thinking, this is cute story, but what is the point of that? Well, my point is that maths is used in every field, and it is just useful in life. Math is like a puzzle or riddle that requires knowledge to solve. If you start to enjoy maths like you do your favorite subject, it is easy to fall in love with it. And there is nothing to be afraid of in maths, because “anything and everything can be learned, all it takes is dedication” — anonymous
Christmas morning 2020
By: Gordie Jackson
Tags: Fears, Conscious, Love, Christmas Day, Poetry

Photo by Jp Valery on Unsplash

My eyes open

I see fear first, or do I feel it? Fear of thoughts, fear of feelings.

It is dark outside.

I feel your fears, I think your thoughts yet….

I yield them to that which is love to calm them to raise them to a new place

It is light outside

g
How i got a Life Changing Orientation…
By: Henry Ford
Tags: Fear, Phycology, Listen, Advice, Purpose

There are moments in our life that we feel alone, depressed, and unwilling to keep going, we struggle with different situations throughout our life that not always can be solved on our own, sometimes we need someone to talk to, there are moments that we really need and advice.

I’ve been just like you, stressed, anxious, depressed and I didn’t know what to do. If you can relate to any of these statements. It is right time to make you life change positively,

After one days of coaching with Annhope, my attitude about myself, my career and my business has shifted 180 degrees. I find myself returning to the same feelings and attitude I had when I started my business, the courage to make and even embrace change and to move forward by making choices that benefit me, not just looking out for everyone else.

I want to emphasize that Annhope does not make decisions for me but instead has helped me develop ways to deal with situations using my own knowledge and self-awareness, and she helped me at least develop a plan or concept for what I want my career to look life for the next 25 years of my life. I have come to regard Annhope as a valued friend as well as life advisor.

James Fritz
They also call me a patriot, because I act that way, because they listen to me,
By: Amanda Suarez
Tags: Fear, Random Bag Check, Patriot Act, Terrorism, Freedom

While I call my mother on Sundays to talk about my life,

They hear me, when I tell her I am afraid, ‘Because even though my last name is only light brown, its brown enough for them to search my car,

And find nothing but DVDs I rented from the library about cowboys because I want so bad to be American, but still they call me Random, untrustworthy, needing to be checked.

I am afraid because I can feel the browness of my skin every time I go to the airport.

Every time I get asked where I am from.

The funny thing about police lights,

Is I never knew how much red, white, blue tasted like iron until I got locked in a room,

Strangled in white anxiety because I had a friend who was the wrong religion,

and lived in the wrong country,

So he surrounded his beautiful horse farm with bars and armed gaurds so they retain protection,

From men I used to think were brave, but really are just heroin addicts,

trying to pay for dreams they can no longer sleep enough to have,

who hate my brown guts more than they hate the poison they inject

when they can lose themselves.

I am so random.

My daughter checks my pockets for bags now. So random. Not really.

Just brown. Too brown. White or brown bags of continuous talking, or sleep. colored like invisibility or dirt,

Where she sits, with her broken winged brother, wingless, silly moth

Not the right color.

They also call me a patriot, because I act that way, because they listen to me,

While I call my mother on Sundays to talk about my life,

They hear me, when I tell her I am afraid, ‘Because even though my last name is only light brown, its brown enough for them to search my car,

And find nothing but DVDs I rented from the library about cowboys because I want so bad to be American, but still they call me Random, untrustworthy, needing to be checked.

I am afraid because I can feel the browness of my skin every time I go to the airport.

Every time I get asked where I am from.

The funny thing about police lights,

Is I never knew how much red, white, blue tasted like iron until I got locked in a room,

Strangled in white anxiety because I had a friend who was the wrong religion,

and lived in the wrong country,

So he surrounded his beautiful horse farm with bars and armed gaurds so they retain protection,

From men I used to think were brave, but really are just heroin addicts,

trying to pay for dreams they can no longer sleep enough to have,

who hate my brown guts more than they hate the poison they inject

when they can lose themselves.

I am so random.

My daughter checks my pockets for bags now. So random. Not really.

Just brown. Too brown. White or brown bags of continuous talking, or sleep. colored like invisibility or dirt,

Where she sits, with her broken winged brother, wingless, silly moth

Not the right color.
FOMO
By: Iqbal Preet Aytan
Tags: Fear, Slowly Richer, Stock Market, Stocks, Apple

FOMO

Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash

I’ve been in a position where I’ve recently bought Apple stock at such a high price of $260. The reason I bought was simple, I was willing to pay a higher price so that I do not miss the fun. This phenomenon is called Fear of Missing Out or FOMO in short.

Control your fears

There are so many reasons why people panic buy and sell or panic in general regarding anything. They do not want to miss. The crowd mentality takes over them and they either opt out of the cult or they feel left out of the cult.
A Single incident ruins half of my Childhood.
By: Asad Jawed
Tags: Fear, Memories, Rain, Phobia, Childhood

Every single minute matters and every single childhood memory matter.

When I look back, I found the most beautiful and the worst memory of my childhood which hits me psychologically. I found the priciest moments of my life where I used to spend time with my friends, we used to go to school together without any responsibility, we were living our lives having fun in the streets and playing different kinds of games in the streets. Those days were gold because we used to play games physically not like today’s world playing games in front of PC and mobiles.

So, we used to play cricket together on the streets and the best part was when the rains starts to fall and here comes the time to play football in the rain and flooded waters, the feeling of those events cannot be define in words but then what happened next had completely changed my childhood that time, we were playing football in the rain water and there was an electric pole at the corner of the street, one of our friend gone there to pick the ball and unfortunately touched the pole and the current of the electricity got his life within seconds and he died on the spot.

This accident creates a phobia in my mind that there is electric current in every flooded water street. I was so scared that I stopped going out of the house whenever there was rain, and I was mentally disturbed for a very long time. Then my family tried to get me out from this mindset and they used to tell me every time that there is no electric current in flooded water, only precaution to follow is that there is current in electric pole in rainy days therefore we should avoid touching poles in rainy days and when there is water around the pole. It took me around 3 to 4 years to get normal and my family played a great part in this, but in the matter of time i lost my precious time of that age and that still hurts me but in the end my phobia was completely vanished after that time.
Feeling the Feels
By: Sundy Gilchrist
Tags: Self, Feelings, Fear, Inquiry

Feeling the Feels

Not talked recently about the feelings that flood our body at times of our distress, as we walk through this experience of being estranged by our adult children…

Can you ‘be’ with it all?

Can you allow and accept in the feelings as they flood into, and you become the witness of the feelings and sensations in your body as they come in and swirl around?

When they come , as they surely do, as a result of a recent event or in the pondering of our thoughts and memories… this is when, I feel, its an opportunity, an invitation from our soul, to work through our feelings, so we are less numb and as a result can feel more… especially our joy , regardless of whether our children are in our. life or not.

Most people’s fears are a fear of our feelings.

Once we have learned the ways to handle our ‘darker’ feelings, the bodily sensations that accompany these, and learned how to switch of our thoughts, our ‘story making thoughts’ that feed our feelings with fuel to keep them scaring us… THEN we become free and at peace…

Regardless of… anything really…

Doesn’t that sound good?

Before you leave this world, give it your best shot to be at peace with your feelings… it’s life changing, I tell you.

Link to a YouTube video I’ve done on this…

https://youtu.be/D1bz9uSrRco

Much love.

With love,

Sundy Gilchrist

Xxx
Fear
By: Wallis May Streete
Tags: Fear, Loneliness, Doubt, Anxiety, Sadness

Fear

Picture by: Olesya Yemets on Unsplash

There is a fear set behind the curtains of your mind, longing to destroy the dreams kept in your heart. It forges a volt of crippling doubt, inviting thoughts to drown in grief. Fear is a burden, a torrid affair with the self, tormented and broken like withered glass. It does not contend with strength or resilience but moves along your soul like a wild serpent, invading the essence of hope, stripping away at your optimism with rushing tides of dread.
Filter
By: Vance Larson
Tags: Fear, Judgement, Flow, Depression, Relationships

You never know. You never know the trauma someone is carrying around with them. Yet we judge, criticize and make assumptions. We rarely take the time to view someone’s perception through the filter of their life experiences. For if we had, we might have actually understood why they act the way they do. Don’t get me wrong, there will be people who you care not to be with…and that is perfectly acceptable. Your energy is your life force, and not everyone should have access to it. I am talking about the ultimate protection of your life force. Your own destructive actions.

If you took your physical body and fed it bad food, booze, smoked and did drugs daily, you would not look or feel too good. Same holds true for your very life force. Your energy. You know exactly what I am talking about. We all know that person that just makes everything a little better. It’s their energy and attitude. More often than not, they are chill, relaxed and don’t complicate things. They don’t gossip, and they sure don’t criticize. They flow.

Filter will fail you. You need not accept ones bad behavior. But to understand it, you may remove the negative consequences of holding onto judgement. The best example I can think of is the Buddha saying “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison, and expecting the other person to die. Get it? Those filters that cause us to judge, anger or fear, really lead us to depression, anxiety and bad health.

Forget the filter, and flow. A clean head is better than a clean hand. Release the judgements. You’ll be lighter, healthier and your energy will be pure. I cannot think of one spiritual teacher {no matter what doctrine they embrace} that would say differently. If in the end, all there is- is love, judgement will keep you from all that there is. Just flow, baby. Flow.
TOO SCARED TO DREAM
By: Diana Ufuah
Tags: Fear, Future, Dreams, Sad, Pain

I have so many expressions clustered up in my chest, I feel like a prisoner in my own mind. The more I try to find myself, the farther away I feel from my identity.

There was a time when my life was filled with so many colors. I had the ability to set goals, achieve them, and feel that rush of endorphin. I had a voice inside me that was loud and clear about who I was and what I wanted.

I could focus so well on anything and make it work. I had routines of meditation, affirmations, visualizations and my heart had all the capacity in the world to believe in the positive and beautiful part of life.

Suddenly, this realistic fantasy started breaking into pieces. The things I thought were certainties turned out to become impossibilities. My dreams were plunged out of the ground and the light I had within me went dim.

Ever since then, I haven’t been able to truly believe. I haven’t believed in anything because I am scared. What if I believe in my dreams again and get hearty disappointments. My fragile heart cannot take that blow and it is my duty to protect it, right?

The funny part is that there is absolutely no fulfillment in disbelief. It is like a dark cave that hides you from all the beauty of possibilities. It is like breathing nitrogen and rapidly suffocating.

It is like being best buddies with constant pain. Believing is scary, not believing is suffocating. In my opinion, life is a form of suffering but then some suffering makes you happier than others.

I really want to be strong. I really want to stand up and relentlessly chase after my dreams. I want to kiss my fears in the face with all the courage I can muster. My heart wants to believe but she doesn’t know-how.
I’m not worried about the new COVID-19 mutation.
By: The Dozen
Tags: Fear, Coronavirus, Facts, Health

Everything Shortform is a publication for Medium stories 150 words and less. Rapid reads to capture your attention and direct it towards further reading or short expressions readers can gulp down in one bite. Use Everything Shortform to get your point across quickly.
WILL THEY
By: Randy Cooper
Tags: Hope, Challenges In Life, Fear, Poetry

Photo:randy cooper

Will they really like me?

Will they realize what it takes?

Will they care that my heart and soul

Are laying out there for all to see?

Do they know how hard I worked to get here?

Do they know how many years are behind what I do?

Do they know the problems that I had to deal with

just to get to this point?

Would it stop me from doing this?

Would it change the way I feel about any of it?

Would I do things any differently

if they do not like it?

Absolutely Not…
Congratulations on finding a way to deal with your fear and to improve the quality of your hospital experience. That is inspiring.
By: Thomas Baumgartner
Tags: Fear, Self Improvement, Hospital, Overcoming Obstacles, Health

Congratulations on finding a way to deal with your fear and to improve the quality of your hospital experience. That is inspiring.
We Can All Be Santa Claus
By: Zen Michael
Tags: Fear, Happiness, Christmas, Sharing, Mindfulness

We Can All Be Santa Claus

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

“Santa Claus is anyone who loves another and seeks to make them happy; who gives himself by thought or word or deed in every gift that he bestows.” — Edwin Osgood Grover.

We can all be that special person, this figure that we like to think about at this time of year.

It is within us the ability to recognize that we feel love for ourselves and for others.

It is within us the capacity to lose the fear of feeling and to start sharing our love for ourselves and for others.

With that recognition and sharing, we will be happier and help others to be happier.

With our attention, thought and actions we can give an infinite number of gifts to everyone.

We don’t have to wait until Christmas to adopt this attitude, but we can always use this season to remind ourselves that we have this meaningful option always available.

We are free to be happy.

I wish everyone a happy, calm, and safe Christmas.
6 Things You Should Know About Worry Before You Begin Worrying
By: Marty Wolner
Tags: Fear, Resilience, Anxiety, Worry, Self Care

Do you remember the last time that you worried about someone or something?

Were you worried about someone close to you, a challenging event coming up, or the outcome of something else going on for you?

Do you remember the way your body felt and the thoughts that raced through your head?

Well, now you remember the intense feeling of self harassment.

Don’t waste your time!

Your worry serves no purpose to calm or mollify you. Worrying wastes your energy and distorts your logical thinking.

It’s almost like worrying is like a poisonous potion that disguises as an emotional relief elixir.

When thinking about something challenging, it may feel like worrying will help you get through it. But as it turns out, the task of worrying shows no positive benefits for you.

When you worry, you’ve made a choice. In his mind-blowing book, The Gift of Fear, author Gavin de Becker talks about the toxic misconceptions of worry.

He talks about how your worry is a manifestation of your fear, and most of the time what you fear is not actually happening to you, it’s a product of your imagination.

Fear distorts your thinking and causes your brain to shift into survival mode (fight, flight or freeze) as a result of your stress response.

Actually, according to de Becker, worrying is your creative thinking gone wrong.

So to worry is to choose to drink your bogus elixir as a result of your brain making distorted connections.
Mad World!
Tags: Fear, Seize The Day, Hopes And Dreams

Mad World!

I find myself further away than the desires and dreams that I follow. What I want much turns into my sorrow in time. That makes me feel weak and helpless. I fear of dreaming and hopes anymore!

It might be a sign that I really care about the future, and do not live the moment and do not appreciate all I have now.

I will practice appreciating the moment I have, ignoring all about the future!!
In Regards to “Stranger Danger”:
By: Ryen Hamp
Tags: Fear, Philosophy, Society, Strangers, Culture

I’ve always viewed the concept of stranger danger to be somewhat of an unfinished idea. The philosophy states that strangers are potentially dangerous and, consequently, should be avoided. Given that a stranger is only a stranger if they are unknown, I begin to discover an incomplete painting of one of society’s most abundant philosophy. Should we feel encouraged to learn about, and engage with more people, or should we feel limited and fearful of the unknowns around us? In essence, I think the question boils down to whether we prioritize eliminating strangers, or eliminating potential dangers.

I find that how we, as individuals, view strangers, have a great deal to do with our privileges, or lack thereof. A common illustration of privilege, especially regarding strangers, I think, is the idea of neighborhoods. Too often, particularly in my time in suburban United States, I heard the terms “safe” and “dangerous” being used as descriptors of local areas. Perhaps if I were to grow up in a “safe” neighborhood, I would be less fearful of strangers, and vice versa, if I were to grow up in a “dangerous” area. I suppose my only question would be whether or not these differing degrees of fears towards strangers would carry over to environments outside of the neighborhoods.

Between various societies, there are vast differences in how strangers are treated between and by its people. Beyond the stereotypes and individual anecdotal experiences of specific countries, I think that it’s fair to claim that these differences exist, and are often clearly visible. I am led to believe that these variances in friendliness towards strangers are caused almost solely by social and cultural factors. With this in mind, I begin to wonder if some societies intentionally implemented social and cultural factors that would drive their communities in a direction that would be better suited for prosperity. What I’m trying to get at is whether or not some societies attempted to instill their social norms before the establishment of their society. A chicken and an egg question, if you will. Perhaps outside intervention could be made to alter the egg to hatch a more fit chicken.

In the end, I continue to be puzzled by the intentions of “stranger danger”, and will likely remain unsure, simply due to the nature of the philosophy. To me, it almost feels as though the phrase introduces a problem, and forgets to, or intentionally omits, the answer. Interesting how a question that seeks a lifelong ethical answer is introduced at such a young age.
The gift of fear
By: Cannon Hamaker
Tags: Fear, Creativity, Business Development, Creative Process, Personal Development

I want to give you a gift this year. The gift of fear.

Fear has been famously described as the mind killer. This is unbelievably wrong.

For years I’ve believed this, I’ve let fear stop me. I’ve met fear and I’ve run.

But now I see it differently, and if I can give you this gift. Then I’ve helped you find something priceless.

If we begin to feel fear in a new way, it will stop keeping us from our goals and will instead act as a catalyst for our successes.

Fear is a chemical reaction which can energize.

Fear heightens sensations, gets us ready for action, floods us with chemicals. Fear isn’t a mind killer, fear is what pushes us to climb Everest, jump out of planes, and build cities.

Fear can shut down higher thinking processes, but that can be good. It can help you focus on what is important at that moment? Your reaction to fear changes everything.

The book “The Upside of Stress” by Kelly Mcconigal gives us some keys to this. We tend to focus on the fight/flight response to fear of stress. It’s a false dichotomy. Mcconigal tells us that we have more options; Excite and delight.

You need to know that you fear, that something is dangerous.

The moment you feel fear, it needs to be identified. Anxiety, shrinking away, the heightened sensation, the intake of breath, the increase in blood flow, the rush of chemicals. Identify it, and know it for what it really is. A gift.

We can use fear to excite us, there is something there that is causing an extreme emotional response. That’s incredible, it means we’ve found something that has meaning for us.

Fear is a possible indicator of meaning. It could be a chance to connect, or to change, or a call to adventure. It’s our body’s way of telling us what is deep in our subconscious mind.

Assuming we aren’t in immediate physical danger, fear shows us that something meaningful is near and sets us up with the energy we need to face it.

We need to start seeing fear as energy and allow that to excite us or delight us. Seeing fear as a gift, as an opportunity allows us to use that fear to change, conquer, and overcome.

Understand and using fear is a key to becoming the masterpiece.

What we want, need, and deeply desire is always on the other side of pain, fear, hard work, suffering. You can’t get the gold without facing the dragon.

You are the masterpiece, face your fears, face your dragon.
The Junction
By: Darius Butkevicius
Tags: Fear, Happy Endings, Dystopia, 1984, Fiction

Photo by Egidijus Bielskis on Unsplash

Yesterday everything was normal — no army trucks on the streets, no military police stopping everyone at the Junction.

The Junction — the place where lovers met, roads streamed into each other.

Today, the Junction is the place to avoid if you want to save your miserable life.

They stop you for no reason, if they don’t like you, your destiny will turn in ways you never dreamt in your worst nightmare.

Don’t be scared — if something can get worse it will get worse. Don’t believe me? Try to cross the road at the Junction.

Everyone is equal — equal to be taken away and die.

Don’t be afraid of death, the death is inevitable. What is worse than death is torture, simple traditional torture. Sleepless nights, cold cellars full of rats. Remember 1984? The rat cage attached to Winston’s face?

Only a sick mind of a madman can come up with torture like that, you say?
Change is Art
By: Kalia Cee
Tags: Fear, Doubt, Change, Life, Anxiety

The unknown is a human fear since day one. Shared by all of us, we learn to surpass it or ignore it. For some, it impedes, while for others it’s a source of pure motivation.

When you have to make a decision, change is inevitable. That we like it or not, it happens to all of us and will continue until we turn to ashes.

As an anxious person, the unknown is mistaken with irrational theories that make only the worst predictable. Even when your conscious about the absurdity of your thoughts, those cortisol level decided to believe otherwise.

You spent weeks and days to make up your mind or even months.

Those times are stressful.

The decision might impact the rest of your life.

You’re trying to see to pros and cons, but one never seems to outcomes another.

In the end, after a lot of thinking, you decided.

You try to stick to similarities until the unknown takes you away to a greater place.

You never felt more like yourself.

All along you thought you were home, but you only had known shelter until this moment.

Your fear was lying as always because they knew they would become irrelevant when the warmth of self-discovery takes over you.
Ten Meter Tower
Tags: Fear, NYTimes, High Dive, Documentary, Pyschology

Buddhism, mixed with my current interests in economics, privilege, immigration, etc. Email <my username>@gmail.com
She — A Memoir.. A disappointment in sheep’s clothing.
By: Amy Emma
Tags: Fear, Commitment, Aloneness, Honesty, She

A disappointment in sheep’s clothing.

She lives alone so she can barely wake up on time, yet at all. No one brews the coffee for her. No one holds the door for her. When she sits her feet tap. Her hands shake. Eyes muster up the courage just to split.

December is usually rainy here. She is not okay but she does not have to hide it — she lives alone. She eats alone. She cries alone. And if she laughed she would laugh alone too. Can it really be hiding when no one is looking?

She opens the windows as her tough action for the day. She smiles as she sits in the other room. Disgusted by her self pity as it grabs her by the throat. She knows she is the reason she cannot breathe.

One day, maybe tomorrow, breath will be exhilarating. Maybe tomorrow she will use more verbs.

But for now, we is scary. So she will buy a Keurig and automatic doors to stay safe.
Fear is Holding You Down. It’s Time to Fight Back.
By: Ryan Dejonghe
Tags: Fear, Life, Self, Self Help, Personal Growth

I heard Deepak Chopra say, “the basis of all fear is the fear of death.” I think he’s right. Every fear of mine that I can think of — rejection, hardship, failure — is rooted in fear of death.

Or maybe I’m afraid that these things will feel like death.

But what is fear?

Better yet, why is fear the primary inhibitor of growth? With other emotions, I can move forward. Although not ideal, I can still progress despite having feelings of guilt, shame, and sadness. But fear shackles. Fear binds.

“Extreme fear can neither fight nor fly.” — William Shakespeare

Fear is toxic. Not only does fear hold us back, but fear itself is often more harmful than the thing we are afraid of.

According to the University of Minnesota, “Fear weakens our immune system and can cause cardiovascular damage, gastrointestinal problems such as ulcers and irritable bowel syndrome, and decreased fertility. It can lead to accelerated aging and even premature death.”

Cheerful, right?

That’s not even accounting for the brain’s effects with decreased reaction times, lower ability to process, and overall mental health.
Fear. Dear fear, you are the greatest thing…
By: Abijit
Tags: Fear, Hope, Happiness, Life, Joy

Image credit: Psychology Today

Dear fear,

You are the greatest thing that happened to my life. With fear comes growth, and I certainly grew when I was with you. You changed my life. You stood at a distance, watching me with your rivals, confidence and hope, and you quietly snuck upon me. The thing is, I forgot how it was with hope and confidence, and it was a moment of such awesome realisation when it came back to me how awesome it was with them. The freedom that I got from hope and confidence was tremendous. They say that life is all about perspective. Life is all about looking at something with 4 eyes, 2 of your own, and 2 not yours. This made me realise how free one can be, and how one can be when fear takes a back seat. When fear takes a back seat, life’s experiences come and sit in the shot gun seat, and that is something that I realised the hard way, but I hope that others don’t.

Fear, you will always be with me, but never will you ever take the seat of hope and confidence. I will always have you, but now I know how to manage you, and that is something that I will use for life. Fear is natural, but the power to overcome that fear is the one that requires a lot of your rivals; confidence, hope and courage. I want people to look at you, and not be intimidated, instead look towards seeking those that will benefit them in a positive way.

So, from my heart, I thank you for opening up my eyes, and from me to you, it’s Goodbye!
Is Fear All that Drives Me!
By: Koma Live
Tags: Fear, Life Lessons, Life, Skydiving, Sports

Is Fear All that Drives Me!

Image by antoine carrion from Pixabay

I will touch on the topic of skydiving and the fear that my brain experiences, but I should think about the upcoming jump.

These are all instincts of self-preservation and in most cases, they are useful to avoid danger because much can go wrong and a person can not return.

Jump with a parachute!!! Many do not even dare to do this, and even those who decide not always jump.

What motives drive my brain?

What is my mind the most afraid of?

I’m not shy! I ride a snowboard, a wakeboard, go to the mountains and generally love extreme sports and catapult in an amusement park. But when the question arises about height, I also seem to have no particular fears.

In childhood, everyone climbed trees, ran through the ruins, jumped from a ledge into the river. My brain, even for childhood exploits, can record scrambling through the neighbors’ balcony, because I accidentally slammed the door and forgot the keys. It was fun, a little scary at first, but fun. My brain ended up feeling Ethan Hunt from Mission Impossible.

Last year we climbed through a narrow rope stretched through the mountains. This adventure is called Via Feratta and my brain did not give up before this challenge. Yes, there was insurance and it was not very high, His Majesty Brain can say, but this is not an excuse! So he is not afraid of heights!?

But what happens when it comes to skydiving???

Oh, here begins a search of different ideas why not.

Everything comes from a rhinestone of the unknown, such as breaking a leg, landing in the wrong place, and in general, a parachute may not open?

Where does it come from in my brain?

Self-preservation or films that cinema promotes for us? I do not know!

But I know for sure, my brain still has very little experience in this matter and it needs to get as much practice as possible to understand everything from the inside! To taste the euphoria about which parachutists preach!
The lion around the corner or a metaphor of life.
Tags: Fear, Religion, Existentialism, Anxiety

Living in a state of anxiety is incredibly taxing on the brain and mind.

Moments of mind numbing anxiety is followed by abrupt relaxation, often times malnourished weeks and the inability to work up an appetite or partake in the normal functionality that life requires us to be apart of.

The Lion around the corner is a state of anxiety, fearing for ones life. For someone who struggles to work out the fear of missing a workout, can lead to thoughts of lacking consistency, by lacking consistency you lack the opportunity to truly reach the pinnacle of good health. Ones mind can go into a space that ‘the way you do anything is the way you do everything’ and panic is ensued with the idea of lacking consistency in all activities of life. So now one can be bearing the weight of missing one workout, lacking consistency and now branching to different areas of your life. Keep in mind this is only the entryway to the rabbits hole.

Now the Lion around the corner? Although many know this is only something one feels and has conjured up in their seemingly infinite space of thoughts. What if there is something “around the corner”? What if our bodies are actually smarter than our minds when it comes to our intuition of fear? What if our bodies are sensing an impending doom like animals can sense nearby fear? What if this fear is trying to guide us somewhere to pressure and protect us? Ultimately it is.

What’s your impending doom?
I stood back up on a set of bleachers, surrounded by peers that I havent been accompanied by for…
By: Novice Words
Tags: Fear, Alone, Nightmare, Entertainment, Storytelling

Blank Slates pt. 2

I stood back up on a set of bleachers, surrounded by peers that I havent been accompanied by for years. Tonight was the big night. Our big performance. As I looked around the people I used to know their faces were all blank slates. Even though these people stood all around me I still felt alone. Is it possible to feel more alone than I already did? As I look around to find some resemblance to real life, I see one person turned away from me, an old friend who I use to love. I begged for her to have a face, but deep down I knew. I called out her name, their was no reaction. I started making my way through the bleachers filled with blank slates faced towards me. As I reached for her shoulder I hesitated in fear of being greeted by another blank face. I pushed pass my fear and as soon as I laid my hand on her shoulder I opened my eyes to a dark room. As I laid on my stomach winded from the fall I was petrified in fear knowing someone was standing over me. The room was cold and dark with the slightest tinge of a blueish grey hue adding to the chill. I recognized this place to be my room. I did not want to turn around without light. I could not face whoever it was without light accompanying me. I slowly reached for a light that I somehow knew was within arms reach. As I felt my fingers grasp around the cool steel I whip around to try and turn on the light. With no luck it didn’t turn on and I was greeted by the same shadowy figure that stalked me in the library. His features were more clear, and noticing them is what sent the coldest shiver through me. The thing that stood above me was me.
Caged Emotions
By: Teri Pruitt
Tags: Fear, Truth And Life, Emotions Taking Me Over, Emotions, Honesty

I keep coming back to the thought that I think more rather than feel. I can intellectualize a problem, a concern, a worry. I can create plans of action to solve them. The follow-through is frequently less than perfect. I can tell you why I am the way I am or at least why I think I am. I can go back to my childhood and describe the development of my crazy; my “type-A, people-pleasing, fear of failure and equally afraid of success, with a mountain-size anxiety of never being “enough” crazy. What I struggle with is feeling the feelings those intellectual observations bring up.

It’s like I look at emotions like animals in a zoo in their habitats but I am removed from their danger by the glass, the fence, or the moat. I don’t have to confront those animals. I can, at a distance, admire their beauty and ferocity. I can know their danger but I am not in danger because the barriers are still there to keep me safe. Sometimes, with the easier tamed animals, I play with them and pet them. I even feed them from my hand — feeding those safer emotions. Even with those though I’m still removed because I can walk away and they will still be safely in their corrals.

If the animals in the zoo are my emotions — who put those barriers up? Me.

Who caged those emotions, tamed them, and yet kept them fed and watered? Me.

I put up those glass panels, fences, and moats around those dangerous and beautiful creatures.

My fear that if I let them free — they will destroy me. They must have tried or why else are they in cages?

My fear that if I let them free — they will destroy others. They must have or why else are they in cages?

I have learned that these animals can’t be allowed freedom of movement. The freedom to live their lives. I am terrified to break their bonds.

If I do, I will die.

That is what I struggle with. I know these emotions should be free to be all that they are — not captured, caged, and stunted. I know I need them which is why they are fed, watered, and sheltered. They weren’t killed. I’m sure that some of them are withering in their captivity. I’m sure others have died while caged up.

I should be able to be at “peace” with them. At the very least, I should not be afraid to engage with and experience them. Yet, I am.

If I let them free, who will save me from the attacks? Me.

If I let them free, who will keep me from dying under the weight of their freedom? Me.

If I let them free, who will keep me from hurting the people I love? Me

If I let them free, who will love me? Me.
If something very drastic does not happen really soon, I am afraid Airbnb, travel and hosting are…
By: Ivana Knezevic
Tags: Fear, Hosting, Future, Coronavirus

If something very drastic does not happen really soon, I am afraid Airbnb, travel and hosting are going to become history. There is a good chance you will miss your guests forever! That is my serious concern. Losing my freedom, my face and my smile — my breath, to a mask — that scares me more than any virus.

Ever since last March I have been watching the world being swiftly turned into a bunch of concentration camps. All it took was the continuous massive propaganda installing and spreading fear. All one sided information, from the same source by the same (mainstream) media. Any attempts to verify or refute this information are brutally ridiculed, censored, banned… And the folks do the rest of the job willingly, even eagerly, all by themselves! Self imprisonment paired by the extreme animosity and aggression toward anyone who does not follow!

Anyone who has studied sociology is familiar with the experiments on human behaviour — all showing how strong the individuals' need to comply is, and how easy it is to influence the mass behaviour. And fear is a great motivator!

Once you give up your freedom and the basic civil rights you ain’t getting them back unless you fight for them. And I do not see it happening any time soon.

The Corona measures are destroying more lives than any old virus. As I am writing this, I just saw my telephone already has the “masked face” emojis! Influencers hard at work from every angle. And I thought those “smiling face” emojis were bad!

I would love to hear your opinion: when do you expect to see your guests again? Just approximately.

You are a few years older than me. Maybe you know something I don’t. I have always been an optimist, I love to travel and I enjoyed hosting. So I would be more than happy to be proven wrong. I dare you!
Face Your Fears to Boost Success and Self Confidence
Tags: Fear, Self Confidence, Self Improvement, Life, Personal Development

“Everything you want is on the other side of fear.” — Jack Canfield

I have been running away from my fears since my school days.

When I did not understand something in a class, I never dared to raise my hand and clarify. For a task as simple as this, my mind projected so many fears that I could not gather the courage to face it.

Unnecessary and baseless fears like — Wouldn’t it look odd to ask a question? Would it make me look like a fool? Is it the right time to ask? They were all

non-ending baseless excuses that held me back from getting up and asking a simple question.

There are countless occasions where I held myself back because of some fear and lost many opportunities. Like taking part in a competition, ask for a simple favor from someone or talk to a girl I really wanted to or to start a conversation with a stranger.

My bigger mistake was not accepting my weakness and comforting myself by blaming people, situations, weather, or coming up with innovative excuses every time.

The sad part, I carried these fears along to my adult life and these stupid fears never stopped growing.

I believe my experience is not a unique one, many people go through the same experience.

I recently asked my friends about fears that hold them back. The most common fears are:-

Embarrassment

Rejection

Shyness

Fear of failure

Not being good enough

The last two are the most common. Self-defeating thoughts like — I am not good enough, I might fail so hide behind some excuse.

The problem lies in the wrong understanding of failure. When we built an image of ourselves as a person who does not fail then failure becomes unacceptable.

“If you perceive your smartness, cleverness, and success as an innate part of your identity, when you fail, the failure becomes a referendum on you.” — Whitney Johnson, author of Disrupt Yourself

Failure is unavoidable, everyone fails it is just a matter of time. In fact, early failure allows you to find shortcomings and try again with better preparation, only to excel further and avoid failures later at critical moments.

“Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

There can be no same guide for all. We all are different. My process of overcoming fears comprises five steps.
3rd Haiku
By: Lori Mccray
Tags: Fear, Beauty, Haiku, Blessings

William’s Winter Wings, photo by author

Beauty and Terror

Are the angel’s fierce blessings ~

Do not be afraid

LBM 12/21/2020
Fear mongering: the weapon of every authoritarian Government.
By: Firdoos Natnoo
Tags: Fear, Covid 19, Coronavaccine, Coronavirus, Control

Whether it be World trade centre collapse and the broadcasts of a video recorded showing an aeroplane striking the building and the following collapse or it be London bridge attack or Daesh (ISIS) slaughtering the innocent civilians on the streets of Iraq and Syria or Hindu-Mualim hate mongering in India or the War on afghanistan or the slogan that “Islam is the only evil” and so on. All this is a weapon handy to every government that wants to control the human beings to its fullest. The least expensive weapon and best friend of every evil doer is fear and anger. They use fear to let humans submit to their plans and make anger to cancel / stop the influence/guidance of those who don’t submit to the plans of those in power (the Real leaders who wish to do good to their people).

The year 2020 is one of the miraculous eye opener to every man of mind. The emergence of Coronavirus and the declaration of pandemic thereafter followed by the international lockdown (first of it’s kind in human history), followed by the race for vaccine and the use of that “criminal” vaccine in humans without adequate testing and proper approval, all is adding up to the fact that “fear is blinding us and therewith they only are controlling us”.

“The Coronavirus is with humans since the birth of mankind and the latest strain of it is most attacking and dangerous for those above 70 with existing pre-conditions, effecting 5 out of 10,000 and the vaccine that is being created is not beneficial for youth at all because youth doesn’t need it. This vaccine is gene-based and not like flu vaccines that are existing from before. Which means that it is going to affect the genetic make-up of the receiver. That can prove to be “dangerously” dangerous.” Dr. Sucharit Bukhdi, Award winner German virologist and researcher

So, wake-up and question those in power about the hate and fear they are spreading. Don’t listen to every word of theirs as sacred. They are running their circus @ cost of your belief and trust in them.

Question everything that is seeming th be unusual and don’t submit to the loving words that have backplan of enslaving you!
My mind screams
By: Hayley Probyn
Tags: Fear, Trapped, Mind

If I were asked about what I am fundamentally afraid of as a human being I could list a number of rudimentary things such as bugs or heights. Though truthfully, in this world of both conventional fears and petrifying phenomena alike, I succumb far more frequently to my far more abstract but nonetheless extreme fear of myself. For when I am alone in the stillness, at the mercy of my own mind in all its faculties, it screams.

During the day, the entirety of my attention is consumed by the monotonous, daily disturbances that surround me. But when all the diversions are gone and the silence sets in, all I’m left with is myself and the forgotten moments trapped within my mind. I end up alone, confronted by endless questions of remorse, identity, future, love, ambitions, judgements and every other painfully profound, introspective question. At the end of the day, in the dark, when everything around me becomes quiet and the distractions that I so heavily rely on for stability and inner fortitude disappear, I am assaulted by my deafening mind.

Despite my efforts to strengthen my mind to be the most dependable and loyal foundations of myself, by forgoing complete control of myself over to its influence, I have exposed myself to the extent of its terrible potentials. The layers of my conscious, subconscious and unconscious mind make up who I am to the very core of my being but are also responsible for the fears that follow me and the dark thoughts that torment me. My mind has the potential for so much destruction and devastation both in the world around me but also within the confines of my own sanity and balance that I frequently find myself craving complete mental oblivion and it’s that desire, rooted in the complex immensity of my own psyche, that utterly frightens me.

I fear being alone with myself in the silence, vulnerable to my mind and its complete, terrifying capacities, more than being surrounded by all the bugs in the world or being on the top floor of the tallest building with no walls. I can run, screaming, from the bugs or the periphery of the building but where can I go to escape from my own screaming mind?