I got thinking about phobias after meeting a new acquaintance who has a phobia about elevators. She cannot step into an elevator on her own. Another person has to be with her. It's the fear of the elevator getting stuck and feeling trapped.
As for me, my phobia is earth worms! I cannot touch a worm or a snake. Goes back to when I was a little girl and a nasty boy dropped a big fat dew worm down my neck. I don't remember the incident, my mother told me. When my daughter was thirteen she was out playing in a field and brought home a garter snake in a glass jar. I locked myself in the bathroom and threatened to do her grievous harm if she did not get rid of the damned snake.
Another friend is afraid of open water. She has never learned to swim. Won't even try. The idea terrifies her.
Then there are SPIDERS. Big, hairy ones, little ones, nasty ones that bite. A common phobia. Arachnophobia (I had to look it up in my Oxford dictionary)
Are women more prone to phobias than men? Who would like to weigh in on this topic? How about a bridge phobia? I mean the structure not the game! I know of someone who simply cannot drive across a bridge.
All this has nothing to do with LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE but it may arouse some interest.I think I tempted you (whoever you are) with an offer back on my first LITSL No one replied so I try again. The second person who comments on this blog, December 3, 2009, to you I will send a copy of my historical romance, A Very Difficult Man.
Anita
www.anitabirt.com
3 comments:
This is shocking. Non-one commenting on your blog. Must begin to feel like the black holes have gobbled all your efforts.
I happened upon it purely by chance, when looking at the Cerridwen authors.
Love Regencies of course. The current state of the genre is a tad depressing. How many these days are 'wallpaper' fustian? Too many. Great that Cerridwen is publishing, but a diffcult sometimes here in Australia.
You asked about phobias. I've got a few of course. Who doesn't? Heights. Very mundane. Can you inherit this? as my father had it too. Made cleaning the gutters diffcult in our house.
Though it does seem I am the only comment at all. Hmm.
Great post Anita and Michelle.
I had a great post ready in reply too, but then lost the darned thing because I forgot my password. It kinda came from my soul and now I cant get back in the "right place" to rewrite it.
Just wanted to say that fear turns into phobias. (Strange that the word fear and the word phobia begin with the same "F" sound isnt it.)
Readers, dont give a darn about what other people might think of you or how you conduct your life. That isn't what matters. It's the soul that matters.
Sorry for word in the next bit, but I want to share something an old Canadian friend once said about the word FEAR:
(F)u**
(E)verything
(A)nd
(R)un
At first her using the F word kinda shocked me, but she is right! We must run from fear, not embrace it, we must ignore it and not allow fear in. (A room can look scarey in the dark, as soon as a light is turned on, theres no more fear, right?) We ALL have the ability to turn away from fear but it takes a little work, so many become lazy, prefering to keep the fear or phobia as its easier taking less work. We were not born with fear, it was put there, possibly in our childhood. Many people say this is why they are "the way they are." Poppycock. I think if people stopped making excuses, went forward in their lives and let go of these past "memories" they would grow out of their fears and so, have no more phobias. JMHO.
PS. In case you look, be warned, my blog is kinda un-interesting really. I havent posted there in quite some time. Hmmm...now I'm using flipping excuses: too busy, dont now what to write etc. lol. Maybe its time I let go of those thoughts too...lol.
Anita, when I read your blog and you talked about the dew worm down the neck, it brought all my memories back about the wooly caterpillar that a boy put down my back in elementary school. I can't kill them fast enough when I see them yet today. I often think how lucky I was that I had only a couple of those "vivid" experiences. How sad for people that have many more monsters of different kinds.
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