Paranoid much?

Have you ever felt the chill whenever you walk home alone at night and under blocks of HDB flats? Do you feel worried whenever you hitch a ride on a taxi or board the train? Are you always suspicious of your surroundings? Do not fret, you are not alone. In fact, most of us have the same feeling. It's purely human reaction, nothing unusual about it. No, it's not harmful.

I personally am afraid of terrorist attacks, so I try to avoid crowded areas. Before secondary school, I hated taking the bus and always shiver whenever I see a big black bag on the floor. Turns out it was a laptop, false alarm, but that didn't keep me from worrying until I started secondary school where bus rides became a routine. When I didn't think about these, I learnt much more about the society by observing the small happenings.

Why do we worry more about these as we grow up and mature? This is because of our environment. We are mostly influenced by factors such as scary movies, some which are powerful enough to give you nightmares for weeks. No one actually recovers, they grow inner and makes you react the next time such a situation occurs. We also tend to worry during the night as we have the knowledge that thefts usually happen during the night when it's too dark to see the person. Why don't we worry in the morning? Thefts happen then too.

Some of the contributing factors come from security talks. I'm sure everyone have at least heard one talk by the fire defense or police, or watched Crimewatch or even drama shows on the news. Taxi thefts and pickpocketing is oh-so-common in these areas that they tend to make us grow more alert and paranoid.

It is good to keep your worrying at a level as being too innocent and gullible will lead to danger. Yet, being too paranoid is also bad for oneself if it affects your lifestyle and patterns. Ask yourself, do you have this "phobia"?