Fear is Human Nature
The dark, hazy reflection of the lake could be a mirror it is so clear. It is cold, but the warm colors of the leaves hug me. The contrast between the colors of the trees and everything on land blends perfectly with the bland water in the lake. As I look up, the sun is gleaming on me and it lights up the trees and glistens off of the water. Walking in the woods or in any sort of nature, can tend to get dull and uneventful. It can feel almost so enclosed when there are trees surrounding everywhere. To me, the woods can be so repetitive. As I walk past the last cluster of tall, dancing oak trees, a weight lifts off of my chest and I feel a breath of fresh air. On this particular crisp fall day, nothing compares to the cool breeze that comes off of a lake.
When I look at the lake, I feel calm. But when I am in the lake, something completely opposite of calm comes upon me.
I think that some things are like that in life. Things, from the surface, may seem like they are perfectly fine, but not. Some people may seem like they are perfectly fine on the outside, but once you submerge into their inner-being, it may be the opposite of what it seems like on the outside.
Fear is inescapable no matter what people say about overcoming them. Everybody lives with fear. When I look at some people and at their lives, it seems as if they do not have fear. However,that is not true nor possible. Fear is part of human nature. And sometimes, it is found IN nature. There are fears such as fear of the dark, fear of animals in nature, fear of unrecognizable sounds, fear of getting lost fear of storms, the list goes on and on. But for me personally, I fear the water aspect of nature and everything about it.
I remember when I was a young kid, I was terrified of the water. When I would be in the bathtub, I would get so worked up sometimes, and have to get out because I thought that a shark would get to my bathtub and break through and eat me. When I would swim in pools or sit in hot tubs at a young age, I thought that there were turtles in the pool hiding and waiting for me so they could bite me. I thought that the vents would suck me in and I would drown. I would hate when people would turn the jets on because I thought that other than pushing out water, it would suck in water and I would get stuck with it. These are childhood fears that I am  sure many kids have. I have grown out of the fear of bathtubs, pools, and hottubs. Those “manmade” things. But my fear of the natural bodies of water has stuck with me.
Even while I am writing this paper and thinking about being in a body of water by myself, I am getting anxious and scared. I am not the type of person to have anxiety. I have never believed that I have it, but, I do know what it is. And the feeling I get when I explain this fear, is just a very anxious feeling. I feel shortness of breath, ringing in my ears, weakness in my legs, and just plain uneasy feeling inside of me. So uneasy.I am scared that some sort of animal is going to touch my leg or grab it and pull me down into the unknown depth of the water. I also am scared that a “water tornado” will swirl me in.
In the beginning of this paper, I was describing the beauty of the water. I think that it is very ironic how somewhere that I believe to be so beautiful and peaceful from the outside, can make me feel so scared on the inside. Some of my most happy times happen on water. In the summers, I love to go out on the boat with friends and family and spend time doing water activities like tubing. I love spending time at the lake.Fears can be inconvenient.
Throughout my life, I have come to realize and accept the fact that fears are just a part of life. I have many fears, but, I was inspired by nature to write about this specific one in this paper.  As I turn around from looking at the lake, I see the array of trees and the sunlight peeping through them. I am not as cold from the breeze off of the lake because the leaves never stop hugging me. The leaves fall off of the tree with the slight breeze of the sunny day. I turn around again and look at the lake. I thank it for teaching me to remember that things are not always what they seem.