Fear makes for an interesting bedfellow. I noticed this when my children asked to watch a movie while going to bed this past Friday. They all sleep in one room for this treat and watch a video by which to fall asleep. This night, the arguing between Jack and Abby caught my interest because they fussed not over the merits of any particular movie, but over which movies couldn't be watched at night due to the scariness factor. My daughter prefers mellow movies in the evenings while Jack likes slighty creepier and darker fare. The movies that Abby refuses to watch, especially at night, trigger Jack's imagination in a much different way. He gets thrilled and she becomes terrified. This made me start thinking about how certain people are born with different levels of tolerance for frightening things.
I remember this same phenomena as a child when my sister and I used to go to sleep listening to stories on the record player. My mother let us each choose one story, and my sister always chose the tales with more adventure, like The Hobbit or Jack and the Beanstalk. I always selected the softer, sweeter fairytales. I still can almost touch that feeling of sheer terror listening to The Hobbit in the darkness of our room we shared. My imagination would run wild with images as I curled up underneath my blankets, sure all the creepy things would come for me in the middle of the night. My sister would lay there, thrilling to the somber music, the deep baritone of the narrator's voice, and get excited during the telling of the story. We were and still are two very different creatures. She has always been a risk-taker and a go-getter while I have been more subdued in many ways. This fear factor definitely shaped our lives and how we tend to do things.
Due to genetic factors, most assuredly, some people just require higher levels of stimulation than others in order to feel alive, or in some cases, to feel merely normal. On average, the majority of people fall somewhere in the middle, needing just a little scare to get that endorphin rush such a horror movie, biking fast, skiing downhill quickly, or moderate carnival rides. But extreme outliers do exist as well. People can panic at the thought leaving their homes, speaking in front of others, or even driving more than 35 miles an hour. On the other end, certain people feel deadened if they aren't riding the most extreme rollercoasters, skydiving, or climbing incredibly high mountains.
It is this level of necessary stimulation that determines quite a bit about how a person will live one's life. Those who do not like the feeling of fear will lead quieter, more secure lives, while the others become the risk-takers always seeking adventure. Listening to my children fuss with each other last night made me think about what experiences they would seek out and embrace, how they would behave as adults, and ultimtely the manner in which they would lead their lives. I haven't even mentioned my third child, Joshua, yet in this entry. I already know he is completely fearless and will probably become a professional naked skydiver/extreme sports afficionado. My three kids illustrate well the spectrum of fear tolerance. A quiet one, a moderate one, and an extreme one. My life has already been enriched by these three beautiful, wonderful children, but I am also looking forward to seeing how they will grow up and what they will choose to do. I know, for certain, that I am in for one interesting ride.
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