You can develop a fear at anytime. You can even have a fear, get over it for years and have it come back.
There are some fears you overcome and others you control. For instance, I was terrified of thunderstorms as a kid. Then when I was in the 8th grade we studied meterology and almost overnight I lost my fear. I now love storms
On the other hand I was severely afraid to fly. I missed out on so many opportunities because of it. But now I fly. I don’t like it, but I can do it.
In the first example I conquered my fear and in the second example I am controlling it.
I used to be one of those idiots who climb cliffs without ropes, until at age 23, I had a fight with a mountain and lost. Now I turn into a gibbering idiot around heights. It can be aquired the hard way, as well as developing with age.
This. Death is so much more real to you…not to mention, you have some idea of what two broken legs is going to cost you in pain and money and agony. You know just how long you will be in the hospital because you’ve seen it happen to other people. I fear I am developing a bit of a fear of heights. I don’t feel as confident as I used to. Sad.
I have a well-developed fear of heights and always have had, for as long as I remembered. But my mother developed severe agoraphobia about when I was born. For years, it was hard to get her out of the house. Eventually, it dissipated, she got a driver’s license, a car, drove everywhere, etc. On the other hand, she also had a morbid fear of bees and passed that on to me somehow. I used to flinch just seeing a bee. That lasted until the first time I got stung and dissipated immediately since bee stings are extremely minor (nothing, say, like getting novocaine injected into a gum).
I didn’t break my legs, I just had every joint on my right side (shoulder, elbow, knee, hip, jaw, etc.) dislocated. I only broke my right arm in 2 places (and had a nasty, bloody gash on the left side of my chin). I didn’t spend the night in the hospital, I was “treated and released”. Still, that HURT! There is DEFINITELY a “hard” way to learn about your lack of immortality.
Coupla years ago I bungeed the Verzasca Dam, which is a little over 700 feet to the base. Went there with my kid on the first planned day, and just plain chickened out, even though it is a good operation and totally safe. The (newly-developed?) acrophobia surprised and irritated me, so I went back a couple days later and jumped, with fairly minimal anxiety. I don’t think I would have thought twice about jumping 30 or 40 years ago.
I’m not sure if it’s new acrophobia, or just the wisdom of geezerdom. I can tell you I was by far the oldest individual jumping Verzasca that day. Oddly, skydiving doesn’t bother me. Perhaps because the ground is not so close.*
*(Yeah, I know; it’s not the fear of jumping but the fear of landing…)