Be Afraid To Be Afraid!

Sipping on my coffee and listening an interesting conversation of three students waiting for their class to begin was one of those days at the campus when I would want to keep analyzing human behavior till the point of exhaustion. Well, and to be super honest, that was not the first and last time I felt so, nevertheless the point of exhaustion has not arrived till now. Not that it happens sporadically but because the immensity of interest does not let me wear out.

I really am not an expert in knowing people, not even close to an 'expert', however, I do know one chief common thing prevalent in majority of the people - 'emotions'. How people are going about their simple lives entangled in complicated emotions leading to their behavior is what fascinates me to the hilt. I can actually let my fingers walk over this keyboard, filling pages and pages on how interesting of a phenomenon it is for me.

What piques my curiosity leads me to the finding that is closer to the truth and that is out of all the emotions the predominant emotion wrapping almost everyone around its little finger is NOT love - sorry for breaking your hearts its 'FEAR'. 

Fear of the unknown or fear of being different, fear of rejection or fear of change, fear of what the future holds or fear of loss, fear of what others are thinking of us or fear of what others are doing and winning the race - this emotion is so palpable that even people in power seem not to be free of it. Closing borders or putting all eggs in one basket to win that election (lets save politics for a rainy day).

A man crying is not manly and a woman laughing out loud is not lady like. An employee asking too many questions does not know his work and a boss asking too many questions is authoritative. A man proposing to a woman if rejected is a loser and a woman confessing her feelings is not dignified. A child standing first in the class is pressured to be an astronaut and an 80 year old is pressured to act their age. As a result everyone is afraid of one thing or another and THAT subsequently leads to suppression of our most intrinsic characteristics.

Without realizing we are killing ourselves and our dreams and inadvertently giving our input in not letting anyone else follow their dreams too. What we are defining for others and ourselves is generating so much of fear that its throwing us all in at the deep end. Not everyone is desiring to be what they were born to be which is making it all the more difficult for us every passing day. Just to fit in a certain criteria of because-that-is-how-it-is-done has killed countless dreams entailing the idea of thats-how-I want-to-do-it.  

Someone wants to work at a jazz bar and lead a happy-go-lucky lifestyle but cannot really chase the idea of it because that is not what people want for him while someone wants to be a stay-at-home mom and looks after her kids yet ends up increasing her work pressures because that is how people are used to see her. 

This fear has actually given rise to rarity. I don't see too many people comfortable with the idea of being different or being comfortable in their own skin. I see lots of people not seizing the moment and doing what they are meant to do - not what they are supposed to do. Whats the result? Same kind of substance - everywhere!

Those three students were discussing on how they wanted something completely different from their lives yet they were doing nothing about it. One of them believed it was too late to change his course of action as it was just one semester to go for his degree; however, one day he will certainly work for wildlife conservation. 

You see what I see in the complexities of human behavior? What happened there was in all that fear, glimmered a tiny hope of  'One Day'. 

Well, I hope that just does not turn out to be a false hope for him and is not killed by another fear. 

Be fearless - Take a Chance- Have Faith - Life is short!

About the Author: Believes in herself!