The Fear of Falling

"They" say, and "they" you will remember are very smart people who know nearly everything, "they" say that we are born with only two natural fears-the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. "They" say that we learn and accumulate all of our other fears throughout our lifetimes.

It's interesting to me though that I may have been born with "the fear of falling", but I do not live with "the fear of falling."  I have  experienced several significant falls, but I can't say that I was fearing them when they happened. In each case the fall was obviously unpredicted and over before I could blink. I wonder if this is true even with a newborn baby. I can't believe that the baby lives with "the fear of falling", but certainly immediately reacts in a "fear of falling" situation. Lisa Feldman-Barrett in How Emotions Are Made says that we have no neural network  of fear that lies dormant until triggered. She says that our brains create these emotions on the fly. I wonder the same thing with the "fear of loud noises". I was holding a twenty-four day old baby last Sunday who was sound asleep. His startle reflex was activated when his monitor made a particularly loud noise. The rather violent reflex was over in a second and he remained asleep.  So can we say he had a "fear of the loud noise" or just reacted to it? Felman-Barrett would certainly say that is the case.

"They" also say that "the fear of heights" is different than "the fear of falling." "They" say that they are closely related but are not the same thing.  In my case, though, the higher I climb a ladder "the fear of heights" and "the fear of falling" are in lock step.  I just said that I really don't have a "fear of falling" because I do not anticipate the event. However, here by my own confession I realize that when combined with a reasonable "fear of heights" the  anticipation aspect of "the fear of falling" comes into play. Isn't "the fear of heights" on a ladder a good thing?

I have experienced several falls that are in that first category of unanticipated events where no particular fear was involved. If anything, each of them happened because of my lack of fear. Once as a teenager I was doing something foolhardy on my bicycle while wearing only shorts and a t-shirt. Banking sharply to the right not thinking about the sand on my tires, the bike slid out from under me. It happened so fast I didn't even have time to put my hand down. The first thing that hit the asphalt was my face followed by my arm and my leg. When my mother opened the front door, she nearly passed out. Everybody assumed I had road rash from a motorcycle accident.  That was the most lengthy and painful recovery I've ever experienced. Years later while holding a three month old baby, I was walking down our wooden den steps in my socks when my feet slipped. Cuddling him for  dear life, I slid down  the steps on my back.  I turned every color of the rainbow, but he was just fine. He jokes now that he enjoyed the ride. On the same steps a couple of years ago while holding my seven year old granddaughter with my shoes on, I missed a step close to the bottom and we both tumbled headlong into the landing.  It scared the wits out of both of us, but neither of us were hurt. So did any of these experiences involve "the fear of falling" or the "lack of the fear of falling"?

Just like "the fear of falling" is closely tied to "the fear of heights." For me, anyway, "the fear of falling" is closely  tied to "the fear of failing,."  Last night I had my recurring school dream. These dreams used to be the garden variety of I get to class and find out it's the day of the final or the bell has rung and  I can't even find the hall my class is on, and the likes of that.  I don't need to tell you about these. Lately they have become rather involved and rather cruel.  Last night I got my first college  test back in the History of Western Civilization. I looked at the paper and thought I'd made a B. I looked again and realized I'd made an F. I was wondering how many As and Bs I needed to make to at least end up with a C. When I woke up it took me a few seconds to realize that it was only a bad dream. My GPA was intact.

"Fear of heights", "fear of falling", "fear of failing"  have "fear" in common. "Fear", "phobia" the same thing. There's even "phobophobia",  "the fear of fear."  "Glossophobia" or stage fright, is closely related to "phobophobia". You aren't just anticipating the audience, you're anticipating the fear. Deal with the fear and the audience takes care of itself.

The CDC estimates that the annual cost to the medical system of falls, especially with the elderly, is $34 billion dollars. Could most of them been avoided?  I say none of them could have been avoided or they wouldn't have happened.  Even if you don't get out of bed, a tree can come crashing in your bedroom ("dendrophobia").

For the most part I enjoy eating at the Cracker Barrel. I do, however,  have to deal with  the fear of really bad country music at unnecessary volumes ("phonophobia"). "We got pickup trucks, chicken clucks, Happy even when we're down on our luck. And if you don't know, that's a country rap."  You can't make this stuff up.