Why…Why are we literally shelling out hard earned dollars each year to experience FEAR?
With Halloween around the corner everywhere you look is another way to PAY to feel frightened.

Horror movies are the new romantic date nights… Haunted houses are all the rage.
Even the 24 ‘news’ stations have even gotten on board scaring us on the hour about the next financial collapse to come or how the potential terror threats or natural disaster is about to hit.

So, what’s the attraction with fear?
It’s a bitter sweet love affair we have with fear…it can even be addictive says one researcher.

1. The excitement can release stress hormones that are exciting and give us a short-term boost of energy. (an all-natural high)

 
2. Being Scared or traumatized together can be a HUGE Bonding experience.  Seriously -it has a name – “Traumatic Bonding” “the misuse of fear, excitement, sexual feelings, and sexual physiology to entangle another person when they experience a traumatic event together. .
 
3. Fear can actually be good for you. The way you perceive scary things actually determines whether it’s good or bad for you. If you love it, it actually stimulates your immune system.  If you perceive it as a bad thing it can have the opposite effect.    
 
4. It may have evolutionary advantages as the advances in technology have nearly always come through someone pushing outside their comfort zone.
 
5. Sometimes it’s fun to just be in the moment & not think. Fear triggers the fight or fight reaction which removes the higher thinking and emotional part of our brain from the equation.
 
6. It’s similar to the excitement in a new relationship...your heart pumps harder, your palms sweat, your brain goes out the window… The feelings mimic the excitement and exhilaration you feel when falling in love…Not a bad way to spend 20 minutes

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7. Many of us may be addicted to fear, anxiety and stress chemicals in our brain. Our lives are so safe these days compared with our ancestors, yet we feel constant and chronic stress. Perhaps we’re just living in a consistent state of elevated Cortisol. Researchers say that can actually lead to an addiction to the stress hormones.  When life becomes boring we create stress to keep the excitement going.