Fear. It is an unpleasant emotion. Fear is caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous. Or perhaps that “something” is likely to cause pain or a threat.
Everyone has their own personal fears.
Even the rich and the famous. I came across an article that listed the noteworthy fears of some famous people in our world.
Of course, there’s plenty out there to be scared of. And some of those fears are more common than others.
A recent poll of American adults showed that almost one in three have a fear of snakes. The other top hits were heights, spiders, and public speaking.
Anyway, here are just a few of the fears held by some notable people.
Genghis Khan was terribly afraid of dogs.
Any dogs. Anywhere.
Napoleon had a great big fear of open doors.
He had a fearless image as a military leader. But. In private, he suffered from his own anxieties, which included a fear of open doors. People who came in to meet him had to enter and exit the room through a very narrow gap and quickly close it behind them to avoid the door being open too wide.
Hans Christian Andersen was afraid of being buried alive.
He was afraid of a lot of things. He feared fire. He feared dogs. And he also refused to eat pork for fear of contracting a particular parasite. But more than anything, he suffered from taphephobia. That is the fear of being buried alive. But really. Who isn’t afraid of that?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt feared the number 13.
We know he said it. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” But what about that, Frankie? It seems he wasn’t immune to the emotion. Roosevelt was afraid of two things that we know of. He feared fire. But he also had a scary point about the number 13. This was so much so that he refused to travel on Friday the 13th. He wouldn’t sit down to dinner if there were 13 people.
Salvador Dalí feared all insects.
Katharine Hepburn had a horrible fear of audiences.
Aretha Franklin was afraid to fly.
There are plenty more.
Nicole Kidman. Butterflies.
Matthew McConaughey. Revolving doors.
Billy Bob Thornton. Antique furniture.
And on and on.
Just remember that not all fears need to be overcome. Some fears protect us. They’re instinctual and help keep us alive. Things like the fear of heights, fire, or wild animals. These are helpful and don’t always need to be conquered, just respected.
Fear is a part of us. We need to be kind to ourselves in this. So long as we don’t let it ruin our lives. Overcoming fear doesn’t always mean eliminating it. Sometimes, it just means moving forward despite it.
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“Fear doesn’t shut you down. It wakes you up.”
— Veronica Roth
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“Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
— Suzy Kassem
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“Fear is a natural reaction to moving closer to the truth.”
— Pema Chödrön
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