Fear

“The only real prison is fear, and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” I came across this quote by Aung San Suu Kvi recently and it struck me for its profound meaning. I began thinking about how fear affects us during our everyday lives and understood that fear is life’s only real limitation. Although the level of fear is different at each stage in our lives, it seems to be commonplace to hold back one’s actions out of fear.

When I came across the empty box sitting alone in the middle of a piece of paper, I felt a sense of dread of how I would approach such an open-ended assignment. I found it shocking that I could be scared of such a simple box and, in retrospect, such a simple assignment. I tried to think of ideas for this project and found that for some reason my ability to think was limited. It was at that moment that it hit me. My limitation for this assignment was the fear I had for how I would go about completing it. I remembered the quote I came across a few days earlier and realized how true this bold statement really is. Are our daily actions limited by our inherent fears?

Whether we notice it or not, each day we are faced with fears. Whether our fears are minor such as being scared of approaching an attractive girl, or they are major such as having an ongoing fear of a terrorist attack, we find that such fears inhibit our actions. Maybe it means that we are scared to take a crowded subway or visit our nation’s capital. Maybe we are frightened to leave our house during a storm or of walking alone down a dark street. Either way, we hold back many of our actions because of the fears we encounter each day.