First, a disclaimer: this essay makes it sound like it is much harder to be me than it is. It is not at all hard to be me, and I feel incredibly lucky to exist in the time and place that I do. In addition to that, this paper only explores a very limited part of me and my intellectual development; important aspects of my personality and artists who played a big part in shaping who I am are left out entirely. With that said, the small part of me that this essay explores has had a profound influence on almost every part of my internal life. Alright, here we go: I am an anxious person. As I write this, I am sitting on a couch on the second floor of Norton, and I can think of at least thirty different things within twenty feet of me that I am terrified of. I mean, most of them are abstract concepts and not actual, physical objects, so I guess it’s not exactly coherent to talk about distance, but I already wrote that sentence and I’m not taking it back. Anyway. Fear. Like I said, I am scared of at least thirty different things right now. Among them: the possibility that someone might approach me, the possibility that if someone does approach me, I will embarrass myself, the near inevitability that if I do embarrass myself, I will cry in public, the fact I only have a maximum of around sixty-five years left to live, the concept of infinity, the possibility that I will make a bad grade on this paper, the idea that I may not actually have the ability to graduate from school, the
Introduction: Almost everyone has an irrational fear or two—of mice, for example, or your annual dental checkup. For most people, these fears are minor. But when fears become so severe that they cause tremendous anxiety and interfere with your normal life, they’re called phobias. A phobia is an intense fear of something that, in reality, poses little or no actual danger. Common phobias and fears include closed-in places, heights, highway driving, flying insects, snakes, and needles. However, we can develop phobias of virtually anything. Most phobias develop in childhood, but they can also develop in adults. If you
Everybody has a different perspective on fear and everybody is affected differently. The Mental Health Foundation stated that, “Fear can last for a short time and then pass but it can also last much longer and stay with us. In some cases it can take over our lives, affecting appetite, sleep, and concentration for long periods of time. Fear stops us from travelling, going to work or school, or even leaving the house.” This quote shows that fear does not affect people as much as it does to others. Although, fear can affect people for a long time which can cause them to stay isolated from others. There are many types of fears and some examples of fears include: the fear of the number 13, the fear of spiders, the fear of heights, and many others. There are hundreds of fears and many people have these fears and everybody is affected differently.
When I first heard Ms. Drummey tell us that we would complete a project reflecting on ourselves I thought, “Oh good, this is going to be a piece of cake,” but as I sat down to choose the songs, poems, and art I would use, I discovered that this assignment would be nowhere near as easy as I had originally thought. You see, I had never truly analyzed who I am as a person and who I wanted to be. Hours upon hours of work later, I finally have a blurred sense of who I am, who I want to be, and where my life is going. Each individual entry has allowed me to realize my strengths and weaknesses, and as memories were pulled from the depths of my hippocampus, I was nearly drawn to tears.
Most people simply think of fear as what people are afraid of. However, it is so much more than than. Have you ever been afraid of something? This was likely shaped by past experiences.
of man on the planet. Fears are of many kinds—fear of objects, fear of people, fear of the future,
How often does an individual look at their fear, or how does one know what theirs is? Does an individual have to encounter a particular fear to believe they are afraid of it? There are five fears: extinction, separation, mutilation, ego death, and loss of autonomy. Extinction is the fear of death of not existing, separation is the fear of being an outcast or being left out. Mutilation is the fear of physical hurt to one’s body, ego death is the fear of loss of integrity.
The concept of fear dated back as far as 400 BC. During this time, Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician described the overly shy person as “someone who loves darkness as life and thinks every man observes him”. When fear is persistent and exaggerated, it results to tension and stress and consequently, anxiety.
life of man on the planet. Fears are of many kinds, Fear of objects, fear people, fear of the future,
Who am I? What makes me unique? What makes me special? As simple as these questions are, why are they so impossible to answer? Am I the star pitcher on the varsity baseball team? Or am I valedictorian at a prestigious school where competition levels are at an all time high? Or am I the high school dropout who couldn’t care less where I end up? I am none of these things. I am myself. I am me. My anthology is me.
They say that there is nothing to fear but fear itself, yet I tend to disagree. Our world is packed full of things to be afraid of. As a child, we are afraid of the dark or monsters hiding underneath our beds; but, as we grow with wisdom and age, those fears become bigger and more worldly. We fear things like terrorism or illness. The fear that consumes me most is that my best might never be enough.
The definition of fear is an unpleasant emotion resulting in being afraid of someone or something that is a dangerous threat. However, fear can come in many forms and affect people in several different ways. Fear is evident in all areas of life. Everyone experiences fear whether the outcome is positive or negative. Fear is no doubt inevitable. For example,whenever you have to present a speech, you may fear ridicule or judgement. Or when you are walking to your car late at night by yourself, you fear many dangerous situations that can happen. According to Mary C. Lamia in “The Complexity of Fear” in Psychology Today, fear in terms of psychology is described as the fear of the unknown, fear of death, and catastrophic fear. Mary C. Lamia has found
Have you ever wondered how you became you? Many things show how decisions affect your identity and not personality. The brief story “The Fan Club” A story about a high school girl who faces a enormous decision about who she will become. “Lather and Nothing Else” is a story about a barber who has to make a gigantic decision when his enemy comes into his shop. The poem “The road not taken” is a poem about a man who has to make a decision which path to journey on.
The more I observe, the more I understand who I am. I come from a small town in a very cold part of the world, where very few exciting events occur. This means, I have to work extra hard to become an artist. I remember having my neighbor say, “You aren’t an artist until I buy a painting from you,” and she did. I never wanted the money, but I did enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that what I create makes others happy. So many people in town encourage me and support me with my dreams, and all I do in return is help them back in return. When people need a little sunshine on gray, winter days, I am there to lend them my happiness. That is why I am able to succeed. When failure strikes his wrath upon me, I learn from the mistakes rather be held back –being optimistic allows me to grow much quicker than if I were to be
However, phobia can even cause people to risk their health. For example, the fear of dentists can leave people suffering from it willing to risk the health of their teeth in order to avoid having to go through an exam or procedure ( MacKay). When one knows about an upcoming confrontation, it can be the reason why one can not sleep or finds it hard to focus on important tasks. Due the change in daily routine, this unrealistic fear can interfere with the ability to socialize, work, or go about everyday life, brought on by and object, event or situation. But even animals have anxieties and phobias just as every human being (www.phobia-help.de). A phobia is an irrational fear, one knows that the object or situation, one is scared off, can not hurt one, but one is still afraid. A reason for this is that the human mind can not distinguish what is real and imaginary. When one has uncontrollable anxiety attacks, he loses rational judgement, leading to complicated problems. However, anyone can develop a phobia, men and women, teens and young adults, and elderly lady or a one-year-old boy (MacKay).
While childhood seemed like a breeze, my adolescent years were anything but that. Adolescence, the transition between childhood and adulthood beginning with puberty, is a time full of physical and psychological changes both positive and negative. During this time individuals are in search of their identity, a task that can yield a lot of confusion. The question of who am I lingers in the back of adolescent minds and the answer anything but simple. This struggle for an identity and one’s place in society can lead to stress. Through exploration and soul searching, however, one might find their identity. For me, this question seemed impossible to answer, however, I always had a strong desire to fit in and be liked by others. Reading through the different developmental theories in the text, I started to compare them to events in my own life and noticed many significant similarities.