For those of you who have pets, you may have seen them do something by accident and then totally freak out. The well-loved pet gets tangled in something and nearly kills themselves trying to get out of it. It can be rather hilarious but it’s best to rescue them as soon as possible. They don’t have the mental capacity that we do to understand they are not really in danger. Therefore, the situation is utterly terrifying to them. The interesting thing about all this, is that we too react to peril by totally freaking out.
After you’ve been through something scary, it may not be quite as scary the next time around. In fact, the more you face most fears, the less scary they become. The unknown carries with it, mystery. Everything may be perfectly fine. However, it may not be and the fight of our lives could lie just around the corner. There are times we don’t know which it is. One thing about fear is that it can make us do things that greatly affect our lives. It can cause us to make terrible decisions if we are not careful.
The common response to unknown peril is to overreact. Someone who knows exactly what is going to happen next may watch, the way the pet was watched. As they watch you squirm through it, they may watch in amusement. At the point where you may hurt yourself, they may intervene to keep you from doing so. Others will cruelly watch you do something that will make matters worse, entertained by your misfortune. During the times when there is no danger at all, we can hurt ourselves or others by a misuse of our imagination. I cannot say for everyone, but as for me, my mind can come up with some pretty bizarre scenarios. At times they are so silly, my rational mind takes over and reminds me to chill out.
It helps when you are able to move things from the unknown to the known. This is a major reason why education shouldn’t stop after school is finished. A continual learning process should happen for the rest of our lives. Knowing that learning can help reduce the amount of stress and pain we encounter should be reason enough to continue as a student of life. No, it won’t make all the bad stuff go away. However, if it can reduce it drastically, and that deserves our consideration. The more prepared we are, the better we are able to handle peril if it does come.