What are we so afraid of?

I've been trying to wrap my mind around this post for awhile now. I don't really know that I have any answers but maybe just subtle encouragement. I've had several conversations recently that have included the phrase, "I would love to but I'm scared of..." After getting my new tattoo, several friends "would love to get one but I'm scared of needles". My grandmother loves to travel but is afraid to fly. My mother wants to start a new career path but is afraid she's too old to start over. I've been in so many relationships over the years that were unhealthy and I knew it and I didn't leave when I should have because I was afraid of being alone. 
In general, I have always been afraid of something. When I stand up to sing at an audition, my legs shake and I choke on the notes before they get out of my throat. When I dropped out of college because the stress of my divorce and my father's drug addiction was too much to handle, I wrote it off as something I would just never get to finish. I have settled for less than I deserved because I was afraid I would never find anything better. 
I am tired of being afraid. Yes, I'll be thirty this year, so what? Yes, between undergrad and grad school, I will be in school until I'm 35, but I'll be able to pursue the career I actually want. Yes, I lost the only person I've trusted with my heart in the past decade last year but I have wonderful friends I never would have met because of it. I live alone but that just means there is no one around that I have to clean up after or cook for other than myself. I have made many changes over the past few years. I wanted to take dance lessons, cooking classes, archery, judo, join a gym, go back to school, move to Chicago, get a tattoo, run in a 5k. I was scared that people would laugh at me, that I wouldn't have any friends, that it would hurt, that I would fail. But I did it and I succeeded, I have friends, I want more.
So here is my message to you. Stop procrastinating, stop dating people just because they pay attention to you, stop selling yourself short, stop being afraid of being alone and learn to enjoy your silence. Pursue the career you want, participate in the activities you have always wanted to try, take the leap, don't be ruled by your fears. You deserve to achieve your goals, you deserve to be loved as much as you love others, you deserve to be a priority, and you deserve to be treated well especially by yourself.
And sometimes, just sometimes, you deserve a cookie. :)