I think I’ve experienced more fear this year than in any other year of my life, but I’m channeling it into something greater.

I’m a normal human being, so I feel fear triggered by ordinary things: unfamiliar places, impending doom, and the like. Recently, however, I’ve noticed more “baseline fear,” a steady undercurrent of thoughts and emotions that feel more like a rising tide than a sudden rainstorm. This isn’t unique or particularly debilitating, and it certainly isn’t acute fear, like the kind experienced just before a significant combat operation. But it exists now in a way it rarely did before, so I want to talk about it.

To say it’s purely cultural wouldn’t be accurate; we still interact frequently with cold, hard reality. I fear things that most people probably do at some point—like not having a place to sleep, lacking food, or being without friends. However, I’m not entirely sure of the difference between fear and stress in this context. It seems more like a combined response rather than fear alone.

Still, a significant part of this fear likely is cultural. Growing up in the suburbs seems to warp one’s sense of stability, and I’m unsure precisely why. Perhaps it’s the lack of events due to lower population density and reduced risk-taking, or maybe it’s because adults often hide messy, scary realities like divorce, bankruptcy, and suicide behind a veil of normalcy. Whatever the cause, I think most people handle these experiences biologically as they mature and their brains literally evolve, rather than through intentional psychological strategies.

I prefer to approach life actively, which is why it’s unsettling to feel reactively exposed to fear-inducing situations. Acute fear can occasionally be enjoyable; people literally pay for it at haunted houses or theme parks. Baseline fear, though, is simply unpleasant. While people can prepare exercises to cope with acute stress, such as five-minute breathing exercises, addressing baseline fear feels elusive. I don’t believe anything truly resolves it. I initially tried providing specific examples, but I think it’s more effective for you to consider your own long-term fears in this context.

Perhaps we live with this baseline fear precisely as we should—using it as a foundation for cultivating reactive courage. Done properly, courage is like a muscle that can be strengthened.