The last thing I want to consider is that my world may not be secure. Perhaps you are like me. Most of what I do during any given day is work to build my little kingdom into a prosperous, harmonious, safe world; free of all catastrophe. Is my family safe, check. Is my family cared for, check. Do we have a plan to provide for emergencies like a job loss, check. Fight to keep the wolf away from the door so to speak.
On many days, it is perfectly possible to believe that I have succeeded in securing my families provision and safety and there is no
real danger to our future. After all, we do not go hungry. Our city is not ravaged by war. Serious disease is usually something we study in a book rather than battle in my own home. The normalcy bias is the tendency to believe that everything will always be as it has been. Even when things begin to change, we dismiss the clues because it seems absurd that our world could be seriously altered. According to this, my world will always be generally safe, and no disaster will ever happen. Any quick, honest look at the world beyond my tiny slice of dirt will demonstrate that circumstances change, like the weather (Unpredictably).
So human nature both believes that present circumstances won’t change and fears that they will. The study of fears or phobias has taught me that people can be overwhelmed by the fear of what will happen, could happen, even if it probably won’t happen. I don’t want to be paralyzed by the fear of the future, and I don’t want to be oblivious to how the world can bring danger/ change in short order. Do you agree that a balance between the two is usually the wisest course?