Situational Fear — Do You Feed It or Fight It?

Overcoming our (ir)rational fear can be freeing

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash

Fear is a primal emotion with an important purpose to keep us out of danger. Some fears are rational when based on a real threat, while others are irrational and may not always make sense.

It can be subjective, or is it?

It was 7:30 p.m., on a beautiful Autumn evening in New York City. We had just finished a business dinner. One of my colleagues needed to head back to Grand Central Station to catch the commuter train to her house. She spoke of riding in a yellow cab. Knowing that her cab ride wouldn’t be reimbursed, I asked her why she didn’t want to take the subway (or metro train). She was quick to say that she would never ride the subway at night and asked me if I would. I said I do it all the time.

Sensing her reservations with the subway at night, I let her be. In the end, she was able to catch a ride with another colleague.

I know of other people who do not ride the subway. Their fears stem from either feeling claustrophobic or anxiety from fear of something bad happening. The news of getting pick-pocketed or pushed onto the tracks doesn’t help the cause.

Another friend is so afraid of driving that she only travels by public transportation or relies on…