Did you have nightmares of the boogie monster or the little Umpa Loopas in Willy Wonka as a kid? Or were you completely terrified to hop on the roller coaster at the theme park with your parents when you were younger? Everyone and their mother has experienced something that has made them scared. Whether your the largest man on earth with a beard that could act as a birds nest or an exact replica of Ronda Rousey, you still get scared. Last night I was halfway asleep when I felt a little itch on my back followed by some movement. In the midst of my slumber I sluggishly swatted at my back. Two seconds later I felt the same feeling on my leg. Since honesty is always key I will be truthful about what exactly happened next. I jumped out of my bed like a 4 year old on Christmas morning. Actually it would be more appropriate to rephrase that as a 4 year old girl on Christmas morning since I simultaneously screamed as I jumped. There was a pretty big spider just chilling on my covers. As I grabbed a tissue and squashed the little creature a couple of thoughts immediately jumped into my mind. My first thought was to scan the room and every corner for any potential replacements for the spider I just killed. My second thought was how could we completely abolish spiders from the human race since I am not a huge fan of them. And my final thought was why did I just get scared?
At first I thought the reason we feel fear would be complicated. I envisioned it having to do with our genetics and the way our brain is wired. And while those assumptions are correct to a certain degree, the real answer was quite simple. It’s natural to get scared. Its basic human instinct. “Being scared and fearful is not only common, it’s completely natural, says Natasha Sharma, a psychotherapist based in Toronto.” As I continued researching the topic I found out that humans have two types of fears.
The first fear is natural. As humans we need to feel fear in order to determine everyday threats. It’s basically an animal instinct. The second type of fear occurs when we are exposed to certain types of intimidating people or overwhelming experiences that seem to increase our level of fear.
This second fear is called irrational fear. Irrational fear varies from person to person because some people will always be more fearful than others just like some people will always be taller than others. It’s just the way life works.
We also might get scared due to outside factors. When you were younger you probably heard the saying “don’t let the bedbugs bite” and as you get older you might indulge in the act of watching scary movies such as “A Nightmare on Elm Street” or the movie “IT”. These movies take place in everyday settings you encounter. So next time you see a scary clown your brain will trigger that fear of when you were younger and you first watched the movie “IT”. There are also people who flat out enjoy being scared. We might refer to them as adrenaline junkies if you 
may. “And there are some people, of course, who just love the pleasure of being scared. When our brains know there is no risk of being harmed, the rush of being scared becomes satisfying, Sharma adds.”
After all the research I did I came to conclusion that there is only one main reason as to why we get scared and feel fear. And that is the fact that fear is a part of evolution, it is a survival tactic. The more you are afraid of something the more likely you are to run away and survive. In the end all we can do is thank our ancestors for this feel of fear we have. They transferred that to us which was actually a gift in disguise. Because in the past the ones who were not scared did not survive. An interesting website I found that had multiple views on this topic also held a great example of why we feel fear. “Let’s take the example of spiders. Scary, but relatively harmless creatures in today’s world. Mind you, there are particularly venomous spiders in Africa that were life threatening to our ancestors. So, their fear saved their life and we inherited the ‘spider fearing’ gene. In short, being scared of spiders is in our DNA. It’s helps us to survive.” Why we get scared stems all the way back to when mankind was nomadic. “It was common for humans to be scared of predatory attacks and such, which has since been hardwired in us throughout our evolution.”
When it’s all said and done and the sun sets, there is only one true reason as to why we get scared. And that reason is because it is a completely natural instinct.
SITES:
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-we-get-scared
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10/31/common-phobias-why-are-people-scared_n_2045627.html
http://www.livescience.com/4273-love-scared.html