[[*---our fears---*]]

Friday, April 16, 2010

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Fears

They say that fear is an emotional response to a perceived threat. It is a basic survival mechanism occurring in response to a specific stimulus, such as pain or the threat of danger. Some psychologists have even suggested that fear is one of a small set of basic or innate emotions. This set also includes such emotions as joy, sadness, and anger. Fear should be distinguished from the related emotional state of anxiety, which typically occurs without any external threat. Fear could also be an instant reaction, to something presently happening.

No matter what they say, each and every one of us has our own fears. Fears that are unique and special to ourselves. I mean, they may have a fear of the same thing, but everyone has story behind it. With indescribable feelings. No one would understand that fear unless they have gone through the same frightening experience as you, which is highly impossible.

Fear can come in differently for others, may it be a near-death experience, an experience involving physical pain or even a small one like stepping on a cockroach.

Some others do not even know why they have that particular fear. Take me as an example. I have been scared of lightning since I was young. I would usually bawl and cry down the whole house. My mother, however, was the direct opposite of me. She was, instead, in awe. She thought that lightning served as a good purpose. It warned us of imminent storms that would come and therefore, we would not be scared. I, however, thought that once a person sees lightning, she or he would become very scared and would probably ignore or not notice it.

Feared experiences can linger in your thoughts and may come in forms of nightmares or night terrors. It is an overwhelming sense of immediate personal danger. It can also become a phobia.

One should never ostracize a person just because they have a different fear as it may lead to pressure, taking in example a student who is afraid of failing her examinations.

Alicia Lee Jing Wen (19)
1O

[[ Your Name Here ]]*|6:11 AM|

Thursday, April 15, 2010

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Fear…..

During the June holidays, my friends and I went to a beach. We were all whirling with excitement. The weather was balmy. We quickly changed into swimming attire and entered the sea. As the cool water touched my body, I could feel adrenaline rushing over my entire body. For a few hours, we swam and played in the sea. Evening came upon us quite suddenly. One of my friends, Gina, suggested playing a ball game. My other friends, who were exhausted, said they would go and get some drinks. While they were away, Gina and I began playing the game.
For few minutes, laughter filled the beach. The game was really exciting. But when Gina hit the ball so hard that it arrived at the deeper side of the sea, things started to go wrong. To get the ball, I swam towards it. Gina advised me to be careful as wind was blowing hard. Confident in swimming, I ignored her advice and swam faster without hesitation. When my hand was about to reach the ball, a strong wind blew towards my side and there was an aggressive wave which sent me about a metre away. A sudden fear hit me. I was unable to control my body. The wave continued and I was going further and further from the ball. My breath was stolen as a wave gushed over me. I coughed and choked, called out for help but there was no answer. Helpless, I struggled with all my might but was fruitless. My heart was thumping hard as I tried to grasp at the waves like straws. The wave became stronger and I felt being pulled further and further deeper. I felt tears in my eyes. I was fearful. “Am I dying like this?” I asked myself.
I drank a lot of seawater and felt dizzy and nauseous. My head was sinking. At that moment, a panorama, showing precious moments of my life, starting from when I was a baby, swept through my mind. I could not hear anything except my breath in the sea. I was crying as I imagined my parents crying sorrowfully at my dead body. Suddenly, a strong power overwhelmed me. “I am going to survive!” I thought fearlessly. Then, suddenly, a hand pulled me out of the water. A lifeguard was there! He was immensely strong. He locked an arm around my neck and swam towards the beach.
When I came to, I was in the hospital. My parents were sitting next to me, worried. When I woke up, my parents heaved a sigh of relief and embraced me tightly. I was rescued by the lifeguard who was informed by Gina and he issued me a stern warning not to go too deep in the sea again. I vowed not to do the same mistake ever.
I learnt from that incident that overcoming fear is a challenge more than just overcoming the sea.

By. Kim Seong Hyeon...!!

[[ Your Name Here ]]*|9:23 PM|

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

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When someone asks me what my fear is, I will say that it is all kinds of insect. Many don’t believe it as insects are much smaller than me hence I need not be afraid of them but what I told them is definitely true. I had a fear of insects, especially cockroaches, since I could remember. Whenever I see an ant on my hands or legs, I would instantly brush it off me. However, when I see a cockroach near me, I would just move away from it as fast as possible and as far as possible. To me, cockroaches are much more scary and disgusting as compared to ants or any other thing under the sun.

I remembered those nights when I walked on streets with my family after dinner. I would always look out for such insects when I was walking in case I stepped on one. If I really see one, I would not take my eyes of it so that I could assure myself that it was not coming nearer to me.

There was another incident that I could remember clearly even though it happened two years ago. My school brought us to Malaysia, Mersing to have our P5 camp. I was overjoyed and excited for the whole day until I found out that the bunk beds we are going to sleep on that night had cockroaches’ eggs on the upper deck. It made me threw up my dinner. When it was bedtime, I could not sleep and was awake the whole night as I was afraid that there would be cockroaches. Thinking that there might be cockroaches crawling all over me made me feel disgusted. I did not sleep well for the rest of the camp too.

My fear of cockroaches made me felt quite embarrassed too went it came to April fool’s Day. My friends always scare me by saying that there is a cockroach behind me or put plastic cockroaches in my pencil case. That always terrifies me as I believe what they had said. Although I had been tricked countless times, I still believe what they say in case they are telling the truth.

Qiu Ying:)

[[ Your Name Here ]]*|6:37 AM|

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My favourite FEAR quote~
"The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one." -Elbert Hubbard

Some silly pictures. :)

Which is more silly? =D

Everyone has fears. Fears are a natural part of life. For me, I have quite a lot of fears. But I am mainly afraid of two.

I have the fear of spiders, which is arachnophobia. Well, I developed arachnophobia through a negative and unpleasant experience, of course.

When I was five years old, I used to find spiders interesting because they had more legs than other animals. I would sing “Incy Wincy Spider climbing up the spout, down came the rain and washed the spider out…”, while I look at them in their webs, either inside or outside the house. I had also collected them in jars.

However, one day, I was trying to collect a spider from its web when it suddenly got on my index finger, wrapped itself around it and then bit me!

I was gripped by fear and trembled like a leaf. I tried to hold back my stinging tears as I tried to shake the spider off my finger frantically. It was kind of itchy, painful and really uncomfortable. I do not know how long my attempt was, but when you are five, even a second can last forever. When I finally did remove it, there were two tiny puncture marks where the bite had been made. My skin was red too. Immediately, I ran back to the house to find my mother. Luckily, the spider was not poisonous.

Since that experience, and a few other bad experiences with spiders, I had learnt that spiders are bad and I should avoid them. Hence, everyone will know there is a spider if I scream.

My second fear is the fear of darkness, which is nyctophobia. I do not feel safe in the darkness, even until now. Night, an empty street, silence - can anything else be scarier than that? The fear often comes not from what I see but my imagination. My weird imagination had always made me feel somebody else’s presence in my house. I imagined criminals hiding quietly outside, on the empty streets, the quiet roads, when everyone else was fast asleep. There is only one word to describe this- fearful.

When I was young, my parents used to leave the lamp by the table on for me to provide a calming relief from the darkness. They also used to ask me question to make me elaborate on my fears. They had shown deep care and concern through all this.

I hope I will be able to overcome this two fears as soon as possible because these fears may be hinders to my life and I can be more confident in life if I overcome them.

Some really silly stuff!!

I guess that's why Thomas Edison invented the light bulb!! ;D

ok, the resolution is not high. Too bad.

pictures taken from GOOGLE IMAGES, IE.

[[ Your Name Here ]]*|6:20 AM|