The Only Thing We Have to Fear...

Someone tell me why I'm posting this at two in the morning? Oh, that's right, I had work tonight...I work at a restaurant, and tonight I was the closing server's assistant (S.A. for short). It's a stressful, sometimes frustrating job but it keeps gas in my tank and food in my belly.

Anyways, I mentioned last time how I love to read? Well, recently I read World War Z by Max Brooks. I loved it! The book is a series of interviews from the survivors of the zombie war. Now, normally I don't get too excited about zombies, I think the whole thing has been over done, but this book was really well written and actually kind of fascinating. So why not see the movie? Well, let me let you in on a little secret, scary movies and I, we don't mix. But I decided I would see it regardless, figuring, "Hey, I've read the book, I already know what's going to happen." WRONG! It was terrifying. I jumped at every little thing, sure that the next second would bring a horrifying zombie bent on biting Brad Pitt's beautiful face.

I'm glad I watched it though, as it provides me with tonight's (this morning's?) topic. Fear.

Why is it that we get so scared watching other people go through traumatizing experiences? Why, when we are in the safety and comfort of our homes or movie theaters, do we feel as if we are the ones in danger? Why do little kids get nightmares from watching horror films? It's not as if they've seen these things first hand?

Maybe it is because our brains, the lovely organs that they are, project us into the situation we are seeing. Tricking our bodies into believing that we are going through the situations we are watching. That would explain the accelerated heart beat, the sweaty palms, the anxiety that accompany horror films.

According to howstuffworks.com fear is a chain reaction in the brain, caused by a "stimuli". That could be a sudden noise, a spider, or a scary movie. After your brain detects the stimuli, it can send it in two directions, (I won't bother you with all the scientific names and processes). The first response to the stimuli would be the automatic flight or fight response. The familiar quickening of the heart, tensing of the muscles, and fast pace breathing. The second direction is the slower, more deliberate response. The brain has time to process whether or not the stimuli is an actual threat, instead of your imagination. The stimulus follows both directions at the same time, but the flight or fight response is the fastest, which is why we panic for a few seconds before we realize we are not actually in danger.

So when we watch a horror movie, we feel like we are experiencing the same things as the characters, which triggers our flight or fight response. When the movie is over we feel that sense of relief that comes with knowing we made it out alive. I can see why some people love scary movies, It's a thrill for them.

I, on the other hand, have enough thrills in my life without scary movies. What, with my blog and my cat, you could say that I enjoy living on the edge. Just kidding.  Actually, I prefer to get my thrills from daring heights and going fast speeds, but that's a whole other post!

Just remember that fear is one of those things that you just have to deal with every now and then, whether you seek it or not. Scary things will always exist, you just have to decide if you're going to spend your whole life avoiding them, or living your life the way you want to in spite of them.

"What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it." Jiddu Krishnamurti

-Grace