Suburbanoia
I love this post from Steve Olson: Do American Suburbs Breed Fear?
I especially liked his conclusion:
More suburban parents watch television news and listen to talk radio and it distorts their perception of risk.
Watching the TV news will absolutely distort your reality. I also think that being in hyper-controlled situations all the time causes you to be nervous in public spaces. I grew up in the suburbs and I was scared of taking the bus until college; now I do it everyday and hardly think about it. The more comfortable you become in uncontrolled situations, the less fearful you become in general.
We highly recommend expanding your comfort zone for personal growth.
Emily,
Thanks for the link up. Glad you enjoyed the post. I live in the suburbs today, and spent my teenage years in the biggest suburb in Minnesota. There are things I love about the suburbs - but culture is not one of them. I agree wholeheartedly - you must expand your comfort zone to grow.
I remember trying to get you to take the bus to the mall, it wasn’t fear - you were a snob. I believe it went something like this, “only losers take the bus, I need a car!”
It made me laugh today, I remember how much I over did the cautions to crossing the street. I think you were in 8th grade before you got over that…
It’s funny though, for all of the theorized fear, all 3 of us are rather brave in our own unique ways.
love Mom
Ha! Thanks, Mom. Snobbery is a sort of fear too. I was afraid of what people would think. Often people are “too cool” to do things that they are actually afraid of. This seems to be a particular affliction of teenagers.