We are frightened by the unknown: things that we cannot foresee or prepare for. We can't control everything, even if we try to convince ourselves we can. When something like a sudden death or natural disaster occurs, it’s hard (to say the least). We fear that something like that will happen again, and we frantically rush to protect ourselves from any more harm. However, we shut ourselves down and prevent anything from helping us. We stunt our growth and end up in a rut. Things happen, and when they do, we shouldn’t shut the world out. We should open ourselves to heal and reach out to others for help. It’s an odd thing though, no matter how many times we are thrown into the dark mysterious pit, we continue to keep our fears alive.

This fear of the unknown heightens when we include people. We all have the knowledge of free will. We are well aware that anyone can do anything at any moment. They have the ability to take advantage of us, hurt us when we’re vulnerable, but at the same time, people can build us up, help us grow and make us feel like everything. This shouldn’t scare us as much as it does, because it’s something that we should learn to accept. We don’t accept it though, some part of us still wants to be able to control what people do and how we react to what they do. This fear of people and of the unknown holds us back from taking opportunities that could change us for the better.

One thing to remember, is that a lot of this fear of people, of the unknown, of things that we can’t control, comes from the idea that we’d be caught with our pants down, and if that happens, we end up embarrassed, hurt and fearful. We fear that we won’t be able to heal or recover. It’s important to remember, that we can heal from whatever happens in our lives. We can’t prepare for what happens in our lives, and we won’t be able to foresee every detail, but that shouldn’t stop us from living our lives.

We should be allowed to live our lives without fear of what will happen. If we weren’t afraid of the unknown, would we be prepared for life? No, nothing can really prepare us for our lives, but I think that we would be more willing to accept what comes our way. If we weren’t afraid, I believe, that we would be able to recovery from what happens more easily and be more willing to talk to each other about what hurts us.