Fear Wired as a Gas Pedal

Most people experience fear as a brake.

Something dangerous appears and the body stops. Hesitates. Pulls back. That's the normal human response — fear as a warning system, a mechanism designed to protect.

I was wired differently.

For most of my life fear didn't slow me down. It accelerated me. The more dangerous the situation, the more alive I felt. The higher the stakes, the clearer my thinking became. Fear was not a warning. It was fuel.

Terror was excitement.

Fear was a thrill.

My dad taught me those things.

I didn’t feel that to be unusual. That's just how it was.

Understanding how fear functioned in my divided life was one of the more important discoveries I made while writing Mr. Hyde and Me.

It publishes on Amazon July 1, 2026.

This post is part of a countdown series leading to the July 1, 2026 launch of Mr. Hyde and Me: How I Live as Two Different Men.

by Benjamin F Sautter