From a teen's perspective: What's scary?

I have a weird conception of what is scary. I love reading Stephen King and watching scary TV shows (highly recommend The Haunting of Hill House). I do some pretty scary stuff sometimes, such as phone banking. But, for some reason I won't go to Spooky Woods. What horrifies people? Is it inconsistent across the board?

On Instagram, I posted the question “What scares you?”  and teens responded with an interesting compilation of answers. Some are scared of certain animals, such as leeches and snakes, but others are scared of natural disasters and people getting hurt. Some even talked about being scared about politics.

My parents, on the other hand, speak of things they feared  in their youth. Along with being petrified  of clowns, there were legitimately concerning things  they were scared of in the 80s. Getting kidnapped, being possessed by demons, and nuclear war all terrified them, and with good cause.  Those are scary concepts. 

Intergenerationally, I believe  the most scary thing is a lack of control. That’s why the scariest movies are not slasher ones, but those that mess with your head. I recently watched “The Blair Witch Project” for the first time.  The actual witch wasn’t really scary, but the fact that the kids had no control over where they were and what they were doing was terrifying. 

Halloween felt a bit different than before. We’ve been living scarily for the past year and a half. COVID-19 has taken actions out of our hands and given it to the hands of fate, which can be very discouraging. Watching the cases rise for most of 2020 was a sad experience, as I could not really do anything to stop it, except help protect myself and my family. This kind of a lack of control gave us all a lot of fear. This fear became weird dreams and anxiety that we are still recovering from.

However, not having control is a part of life. We cannot stop what must and will happen. We’re human and we must accept that. So, take ownership of the things that you can control, which is more than you think. You're empowered to make your own choices. Get vaccinated. Please vote. Live your life to the fullest, while still following COVID-19 restrictions. Turn the fear of what we can’t control into an embrace of the unknown, learning and growing with fate.