Fear

A fear that sometimes plagues me is becoming a hikikomori. I have several traits that could reasonably exacerbate a propensity towards becoming hikikomori:

generalised anxiety and depression. Being out in public is usually totally fine, but being criticised even lightly is horrific for me, and I can't handle party atmospheres with lots of people. Slightly bad things snowball into impossible hurdles easily.
I'm an introvert. Being around people is exhausting and I like spending hours in my room alone.
I love using the computer. I mean, I'm literally using it right now. A LOT of my hobbies are on the computer.
If I could, I would totally get a totally remote work job.
The idea of hiding away in my room is very tempting.

Fortunately, I find it very unlikely I would ever become a hikikomori. I have a robust support system - IRL and online friends, a loving family, nice flatmates - and a job, not to mention hobbies that take me outside like photography. But even though I work hard to go outside lots and get off the computer, it's always work to do this. It doesn't come naturally. It feels like if I simply let my heart follow its passions with no care for self preservation, I would become a pale, frail shut-in. I exert a significant amount of effort to be normal, basically. And I'm good at it! But it worries me that I have to try at all.

Right now I'm watching Welcome To The NHK, which for obvious reasons is aggravating this particular fear of mine. The anime is about a hikikomori who slowly comes out of his shell because of the persistent effort of two people: his next door neighbour and a teenage girl he met by coincidence. In a sense it's a positive show about how hikikomori life isn't a death sentence, but it's scary how much I relate to the main character. The show does a good job of showing the dark side of being hikikomori, and the immense damage it does to the people around you. I never want to be like that, and I'll continue to work hard to make sure I never slip into unhealthy obsession like that.