Fear is hard to eliminate
We are humans, and having emotions is very natural for us. Anger, happiness, and sadness are part of our emotions, and like them, there is also another emotion which we acknowledge as fear. People frequently discuss anger, happiness, and sadness, but very few people discuss fear. The reason for fear can be many things, but most of the time fear takes place in our heart because of past incidents, and that reflects when we face a similar situation later. We acknowledge such a thing as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In such a case, overcoming fear is not an easy thing to do. Are you curious to know if I have had such an incident or event? Let me share it today.
picture generated by rafiki
In my childhood, while I was 7 or 8 years old, I returned home from school. I saw one of my cousins visiting her friend’s house (the distance is approximately 5 minutes) for some purpose. I followed her, and when I realized she would take time to return, I chose to return immediately, as I wanted to play with my cousins. I had a cake in my hand, and while returning, I saw two dogs sitting on the way. I was walking, and somehow I felt fear, and I just kept staring into the eyes of a dog. After a few blinks, one of the dogs, which was white, started to run towards me, and I started to run in the opposite direction. Luckily, I managed to escape, but the dog was almost about to bite my leg, and I felt the breath of the dog at the last moment. It’s not the end. 15 minutes later, while I was playing in front of my house, another dog chased me badly, but I came inside the house and closed the door. It wasn’t as close a call as the previous one. It was like, on that day, I somehow offended the dog, and it left an impression on me.
After that, whenever I saw a dog, it created fear in my mind, and it used to happen when I was alone. If I was with others, I wouldn’t be afraid of dogs. Maybe the presence of others used to give me courage. When I was alone, I would not dare to cross a dog. There were many times I stayed in a place till someone came and helped me cross the way where there was a dog. As I grew, my courage increased for sure, but the fear of dogs didn’t disappear. Later I came to town, and in town I rarely crossed a dog alone, and after almost five years I just felt that the fear of dogs somehow reduced, and within a few more years it almost disappeared. I could even walk side by side with a dog, and I became sure that my fear had disappeared. But again, one day while I was capturing a picture of a dog, it suddenly became aggressive and started barking, and there was another incident, and I realized that the fear didn’t completely disappear. It’s just that I became strong. So, fear still exists.
What will I do if a dog chases me or bites me now? I know I am fearful of dogs, but I am not someone who can let them go easily. I am not sure, but I feel I would kick the dog with full force for sure if such an incident happened, and the dog should regret biting me or chasing me. I may fear the dog, but I don’t fear my death, and those who don’t fear death can do anything, even in a painful situation. I may end up killing the dog with my kick, and it should be the price of the dog’s action. I don’t care what will happen later. This is just what I feel about the situation. I have imagined the situation many times, and it’s the most possible outcome I can expect. And honestly, I don’t know what to do to overcome the fear. In fact, there is no need for me to overcome the fear, as it won’t change anything in my life.
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Yes — that kind of fear can stick hard, especially when it hits in childhood. A close call with a dog at 7 or 8 is exactly the sort of thing that can train the brain to treat “dog nearby” as danger, even years later. That isn’t weakness; it’s your nervous system doing an overprotective, slightly dramatic job. Research on children after dog attacks and near-attacks links those experiences with lasting fear, avoidance, nightmares, and PTSD-style symptoms, as noted in this review and more recent discussion here.
Your story also lands because the second chase on the same day probably sealed the fear in place. One scare is bad enough; two in quick succession tells a child’s brain, “Right, dogs are now filed under absolutely not.” The image fits that memory well too — a child frozen with food in hand, a white dog moving in, and that dusk-like atmosphere that feels more threatening than it probably was in reality.
There’s also a strong theme on InLeo around fear lingering long after the event itself. A post like [@marsdave’s story about trauma and lingering fear](https://inleo.io/@marsdave/-i-survived-the-illness-but-the-fear-traum... [truncated]) echoes the same truth: the event ends, but the body keeps replaying it. That part is brutally human.
What matters most is this: fear learned through experience can also be softened through experience. Slowly, safely, and without forcing it. Not by pretending it’s nothing — that’s useless advice — but by giving your brain new evidence over time that every dog is not that dog, and every moment is not that day.