Irrational Fears

What is a rational fear?  What is irrational?  I suppose it all depends on who you ask and what their perspective is.  I bring this up because I got a phone call from a person who got into an argument with their spouse and then their eight year old ran off to get away from them arguing.  The person was hysterical because the kid just ran away and the spouse just took off as well.  I asked, what did you do?  Why is it always me?  How come everyone always jumps to the conclusion it's me?  Why didn't you ask what the spouse did? 

I said it's because you are the one on the phone that's acting hysterically.  What did you do? 

It all started with someone rolling through the stop sign at their corner.  The spouse yelled at the driver who provided a hand gesture in return.  The driver then drove off.  The hysterical one then let into the spouse because "they live in gang territory" and is going to get shot someday because they can't keep their comments to themselves (The entire country is gang territory as far as I'm concerned, but if you don't join in you don't usually have as much to worry about - at least on a normal day to day basis, but I do believe that much of the ruin of cities is gang related).  The two started arguing about it and the eight year old took off instead of listening to the parents scream at each other. 

I tried to calmly talk to the person on the phone.  A gang member isn't going to shoot your spouse.  Now, if your spouse was a gang member of a different gang then perhaps you would have something to worry about.  Call the county sheriff or the local police.  Ask them how many non gang members the gang members shoot.  I'm sure it's none, or very, very few.  I said that their fear was irrational.  Then the person on the phone said all they do is worry...about the spouse losing their job, about kids getting hurt (they aren't allowed to climb trees or swing too high), about gangs, about everything.  Again I said it's irrational. 

We can get into a debate here about gangs because they are something to rationally fear but our behavior towards anything that happens is either rational or irrational.  We get into trouble when we behave irrationally.

The body has physical reactions to fear, both rational and irrational, and the two kinds of fear cause different physical reactions.  Just a couple of examples are that rational fear diverts blood flow from your digestive tract to your muscles as well as sending nutrients to your muscles.  Irrational fear makes you nauseous, lightheaded and you think you are going to faint, lose control, or go crazy.   

Irrational fears are a waste of your time and can really affect your psyche.  What's the difference?  Rational fears are healthy and can protect you from danger.  These are the types of  fears that I believe I have.  They are the kind of fears that make me live the lifestyle that I do and are the reason that you are reading my blog.  (I'm sure it's not just because you like my writing style).  These fears protect you.  Irrational fears don't have history or sense behind them yet they stop you from doing something or behaving in a way that brings you happiness and peace. 

Make sure the preparing you do is out of rational fear.  What are your reasons for becoming a survivalist or a prepper or whatever term you want to think of yourself?  Having rational fear will lead you to making wiser choices.