It's when you're afraid to climb high or swim far, kind of like a self-defense mechanism akin to pain. But do our fears really protect us? Maybe that's where they bend the stick? But who is "they"? Fear has no reason, therefore, to be a part of us. Part of that, like the rest of the control.
From the earliest years we put barriers against dangers: don't run on ice, falls, wear a hat, you'll catch cold. This is how our view of the world is formed from the position of survival. That's right, the world turns into a big wild jungle with a beast hiding in every Bush, danger everywhere!