Let me tell you a real story about a “fearless” woman!
She is an American woman, one of fewer than 300 people who have Urbach-Wiethe disease; it causes the deterioration of the amygdala, a small almond-shaped bundle of neurons located on the inner surface of the temporal lobe in the brain, responsible for processing emotions.
Scientists refer to her as SM to protect her identity because, unlike other people, she didn’t develop the ability to avoid danger. Her behavior leads her repeatedly to dangerous situations.
A team of researchers showed her a list of the scariest horror movies, to which she responded with no fear. She experienced the feeling of excitement when she held a snake and when visiting the “haunted house,” a place designed to scare people, she led the group, and her relaxed attitude scared the people who were supposed to scare her.
She was also subject to domestic violence and a life-threatening incident to which she didn’t recall any emotions of fear.
Fear is often labeled as a bad emotion, but the case of SM indicates to us that every feeling we experience is there to serve us and protect us from danger. Yet, sometimes fear can paralyze us and harm us. It may stop us from realizing our dreams and enjoying life. Therefore, becoming self-aware is crucial to know what our fear is trying to tell us.
Fear comes with physical sensations in our bodies, like faster heart rate and breathing or shortness of breath, digestive problems, pain in the stomach, sweating, and trembling.
Those physical symptoms are not always holding us back, for sometimes they are indicators that something is off and that we have to decide whether to fight and face what is causing us to fear or to run away from it.
People mistake bravery with the absence of fear, yet the opposite is true. We all have some kind of fear, but not everyone admits it, and raising awareness around emotions has become a necessity.
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Ninette Abi Atallah
I am the tomorrow; therefore, I write.
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