What If?

It seems like a lot of people I know have been asking an unusual amount of "what if" questions lately.

Which got me to thinking.

The way I see it, there are two types of "what if" questions: the kind that spark our curiosity and lead us to discover things we never thought possible. The kind of "what if" questions that Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs asked. The kind that make us think outside the box.

And then there's the other kind.

The kind that cause us to doubt our decisions and self-sabotage. Unfortunately, this is the type of "what if" question I've been hearing a lot these days.

"What if my relationship doesn't last?"
"What if I don't get into my top choice?"
"What if I can't do it?"

I'd be lying if I said I've never hesitated before making a decision, much less an important one. I mean, that's normal. I might even go so far as to say it's RECOMMENDED. The problem arises when we let our uncertainty overpower us because of our fear of failure. After all, if you never jump you'll never fall, right?

But what's the fun in that?

The worst that could happen is, yeah, turns out you weren't meant to be with someone, or you don't get into the school of your choice or you don't succeed. Sometimes things don't happen the way we want them to. But, on the bright side, you can say you TRIED. You put yourself out on a limb, knowing full well that it might break, and that's something to be proud of. Congrats to you! And hopefully even if it does break, it won't stop you from trying again. And again. And again.

Journey once told me "don't stop believing." I think they might have been on to something.

Why Do People Love to be Scared?

As a veteran of horror, I've asked myself this question many a time. I started watching cheesy 90s horror movies in my friend's basement in elementary school, and quickly moved on to classics like Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th. Even though I was terrified to fall asleep after watching these movies, I kept going back. To this day, I'm still a horror film fanatic even if I know I will most likely be paranoid and scared after. Why do I, and people like me, do this?

According to David Rudd at the University of Utah, people enjoy feeling scared and seek the feeling out because, deep down, they know they are in no real danger.

"People understand the real risk of these activities is marginal, and because of this underlying awareness, they experience excitement rather than actual fear," Rudd explains. Teenagers and adults and more apt to gauge the actual level of threat that scary stimuli pose to them, and therefore, are able to watch scary movies with no real threat, except maybe the psychological threat of a nightmare or two after the exposure. Because of this, people feel safe watching movies like these.

For me, different horror sub-genres elicit different feelings of excitement or fear for me. For example, even though I'm not inclined to watch gory thillers, they affect my psychological/emotional level the least. However, scary movies involving the paranormal or religious topics scare the buhjesus out of me. No matter the specific horror type, I realize that the likelihood of the events I've watched happening to me is marginal, if not impossible (depending on your beliefs of course). Because of my rationality and lust for thrill, just as when I was a kid, no matter how scared I am after watching a movie, the adrenaline rush I feel during the movie is too exciting to give up.

For more on people's fascination with fright, check out this article:

Scientists Take a Stab at Why Horror Film Lust Runs Deep