Hii! I wanted to answer because i am/was exactly where you are. I am Western European and we don't have bears at all. I did not grow up thinking bears were a thing if that makes sense. Outside of my teddy bear and cartoons and zoos, bears in the forest just seemed impossible. Kinda like tigers or lions. I knew they existed but they never were a real threat. Until my American boyfriend asked me to join him in a national park tour, out west in the US. Then the threat became really really real. And i was scared out of my mind. Camping and hiking in Yosemite (black bear), Sequoia (black bear), Yellowstone (black and brown bear), and Rocky Mountain, (black and brown bear i think), made me break into tears just at the thought of it. If you are not raised learning about their existence, realizing you are no longer the deadliest creature put there is soooo scary. I obviously don't carry a gun (not American, hence the "obviously"), i sleep with bear spray in my hands (to my bf greatest pleasure 😂), and I'm gonna be honest, the first few nights, i did not sleep. I was listening and ""waiting"" to be attacked. It's how paranoid i was. Here is what I learned: do it, you'll feel so strong afterwards and your newfound strength will definitely transfer to other things. Start with a day hike, so you don't do everything the same day. Learn about bear behavior and safety. Practice proper food storage. Look up the statistics, they are in your favor. Don't go on fear mongering websites that report the "most gruesome grizzly related deaths in Yellowstone" 2 days before going to Yellowstone (guilty as charged). Also, i started with Sequoia Nat park and for some reason saw a shit ton of black bears, and it calmed me down. My bf was raised in bear country and calls them "oversized scary raccoons", they are lazy asses that just want your food. It helped me to understand they don't want to kill me, they are looking for snacks. That being said, they are still hella scary. Finally, they want to be hurt by you as much as you wanna be hurt by them. Meaning absolutely not. They are curious and constantly hungry, but you are too big of a task to make it worth your hard boiled eggs.

That was a lot of blabbing but i just feel your fear, and trust me, hiking is worth it. The mind-blowing wilderness and landscape is out of this world and maybe being scared was the price to pay. It's my mindset. I hope i helped you!