Living in the Midst of Fear

Finding the balance between being cautious and being paranoid

By Maia Irvin

Don’t talk to strangers.

Keep your door locked at all times.

Use your keys as a weapon when someone attacks you.

These are just some of the countless warnings that I received from just about everyone I knew before leaving for college. I’m almost positive that the majority of you have received similar advice at some point in your life, whether it was before heading to college or not. 

To be fair, Minneapolis and St. Paul are large cities with hundreds of thousands of people, and crime is no stranger here and in other places similar to the Twin Cities. In some respects, I do understand the concerns for safety that so many experience, and I think that it’s necessary to take precautions such as locking your door when you’re not home and being aware of your surroundings. However, it’s important to ask—has that concern morphed into paranoia? Are we starting to become so cautious that we miss out on truly living and experiencing life unhindered by fear? 

I’m not saying that you should go to an abandoned warehouse at 3 a.m. by yourself, but we should still be able to go about our lives freely without being constantly worried that we’ll get hurt simply by leaving the house. We should be open to new experiences that test our limits of fear such as being out of the house after sunset and feeling comfortable with meeting new people. Some people, however, are controlled by the fear that something bad will happen, so they don’t even entertain the possibility that something great could also occur. 

We need to be aware of the possible dangers that are present all around us, but we also need to be able to balance our fears of the world with living our lives without regret.