Hey
At its root, fear is what you feel when danger is perceived, and it motivates us to either avoid the danger or fight it off.
Some perceptions of danger are hard-wired into our brains. Have you ever noticed that spiny, scaly, toothy looking animals, with big claws, somehow just never look like they would be friendly enough to become pets?
Ever seen a friendly looking scorpion? And then there are snakes! That is instinctual hard-wired fear, and you can see it exhibited by other species of animals.
Most of what we fear though, is learned. People who are pre-disposed to anxiety are more likely to learn to fear things outside their direct experience than those who live with self-confidence.
Whether that pre-disposition toward anxiety is learned or not, those who have it will fear the concepts they have created when they learn about dangers that others communicate to them, as if those concepts were real dangers.
You can read enough about rabies to know that it is a very dreadful disease, and from that become fearful, but have you read enough to understand what the odds of catching it are?
Have you read enough to understand how the animals that carry it behave, and how to utilize that information to minimize your risk?
The danger is real, but so are the ways to minimize your risk, and learning how to assess and manage risk is the way to live in a dangerous world without melting down into a panic attack. This applies for all dangers, not just rabies.
You can face danger and live in peace if you learn how to make realistic risk assessments.
I used to live in a wild and forested place where I raised my kids. There was a week when a rabid skunk would come stumbling in and prowl the yard around our home.
I wasn't sure then that it was rabid, just that something was not right with it, the way it kept stumbling around and that its coat was so ragged. Maybe it had been injured.
I was reluctant to do anything about it because it was a skunk, and the odor lingers a long time if they get annoyed, but regardless, my boys would drive it away by throwing rocks at it whenever it appeared.
One day it appeared out of the bushes and stumbled its way right over to me, and mindful of getting sprayed, I froze to avoid provoking it.
That is when I realized this animal was rabid. Its coat was a ragged mess, and unlike any healthy wild animal, it stood up on its hind legs in a most friendly manner, as if it were a pet wanting me to stroke it, looking into my eyes with its beady little sick-looking eyes.
I was surprised at myself to see this impulse in me to touch that little friend from the forest, and I could see just how dangerous "friendly" wild animals can be to small children.
My daughter was a toddler then, and her vulnerability was plain to see. I stood very, very still, and it got bored with me and left.
From that experience I learned to teach kids to never touch a wild animal, especially the friendly ones.
I also followed my boys' example and threw rocks at it whenever it came around, and it finally left us alone.
It was sick, slow, staggering, and avoidable. It was abnormally friendly, instead of aggressive.
If you avoid animals that show abnormal behavior, your chances of contracting rabies are highly reduced. And if you can keep your sleeping quarters sealed from biting insects, bats won't be able to get in either.
Your vaccination will protect you from any chance of rabies from whatever bit you.
Learn how to make realistic risk assessments, and protect yourself from the effects of anxiety. Psychological counseling can help you find peace.
Answered2021-08-02 14:29:23
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