Fear is the ability to recognize danger leading to an urge to confront it or flee from it (also known as the fight-or-flight response) but in extreme cases of fear (horror and terror) a freeze or paralysis response is possible as defined by wikipedia.

Imagine that... "in extreme cases of fear, a freeze or paralysis response is possible."

I don't have to ask, since it is given that at one point of your life... you have experienced being afraid of something. As a matter of fact, I also had.

Ever since I could remember, this strange emotion we call fear has been running my life. From the horror of my past to the anxiety of tomorrow, I feel compelled. Not just compelled actually, but something I think that I hold on to. Holding on to fear is my biggest weakness. Maybe not just a weakness but a technique on how to survive.

Everyone does it and we all have our reasons. It may be due to the fact that we have lost something dearly in our lives and come out of that situation, wanting to prevent any similar circumstances to ever happen again. You tell yourself that the pain is cut deep and subconsciously, we do not realize that the response we give to that pain is by burying the hurt inside. At an instant, we shut everyone and everything out in the path similar to the road we deem will yield that lost and we get over-protective, suffocating all the people around us.

Whatever reasons we tell ourselves, the fact remains... fear takes control of the decisions we partake in our lives as a consequence of the experiences we have gathered from life itself.

The way we handle fear stems from the strong foundation of home. In my own opinion, home is the place where we find refuge from all the struggles and chaos of this place we call Earth. But how can we deal with the difficulties life brings if the problem itself resides at home. Take for example, a child who all his or her life saw domestic violence as a daily routine in his or her family's lives. This child for instance will grow older thinking that life is a bitch since it was vividly and explicitly projected by the individuals this child looked up to at that early age, who are obligated to protect him or her from the dangers outside of home. Chances are that the value handed over to this child is mistrust, one of the core conflicts in Erik Erikson's theory on psychosocial development.

Mistrusting the people who guides you through life at an early age is a deadly thing.

It may cause you to either concede to the fear these people has harbored unto you or to retaliate from it and do something with the fear they caused you.

The way we handle certain situations, I believe is part on how strong our personality is. Thus, this response varies from each individual.

Sometimes, we feel the need to let go of the fear we have inside only to realize that at the end of the day, this fear won't go away since it has a clear grasp on our entire being.

So, where do you go from here?

You may tell yourself to just give up the fight, you won't win anyways. This fear remains and you go on with life not even trying to face up the fear. You can, on the other hand go on with life with your best foot forward and face the music with your head held up high.

And like I said, at the end of the day... it boils unto you.

I do have fears. The list goes on with the fear of failure, fear of disappointment, fear of not living up to the expectations of others, fear of death, fear of marriage, fear of dreams shattered at an instant, fear of trusting too much, and so on.

I may have these fears but that doesn't mean that I can't face them.

In the words of Meg Cabot, she states: "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. From now on you'll be traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be. The key is to allow yourself to make the journey."

In this journey we call life, we may have excess baggages of fears and anxiety, but at the end of the day, despite that fear, we go on anyways. Not because we are strong, but rather from the judgement that something else is more important than holding on to fear.

In my life, what propels me forward to go on, despite my fear is life itself.

Our fears hinder us from moving forward and starting anew. Most of us dwell on the situations we had in the past and regret the things we should have done but did not do.

I've been there. Done that.

My only hope, however is that in the future when I grow old and look back at the choices I made in my life, I would simply smile and tell myself softly with a big pat on my shoulder that all those heartache, pain, hurt and sorrow was worth the wait.

I only ask that life gives me the strength to hold on, despite the fear.