Fears and Phobias...Got Any You Want to Share?

I don't like spiders or snakes...but they are the least of my concerns. When I was a small child I was shut up in a cedar chest for what seemed like an eternity....it truly was only several minutes. Because of this event...I am a claustrophobic today. I have worked over the years at getting a handle on it...but, I am not fond of the smell of cedar today...and will panic if I am closed up in a place where I can't get air....ummmm that would be like elevators and big crowds that are pushing. I go to concerts. I just get there and give myself time to get where I am supposed to be ....without being pushed by a crowd of people. I ride elevators too....but not with a crowd. At the Space Needle in Seattle...the elevator operator....took me up....alone. I was thrilled....I got to go up...and was not bothered by a crowd of people....coming down...was not as good...it was crowded...and what takes less than a minute seemed to last hours. Oh well...I had one good ride!

The other thing I am afraid of....is birds. I saw Alfred Hitchcocks movie, "The Birds" when I was a child and have been terrified of large gatherings of birds ever since. So, you can imagine the surprise I got in Italy...when we entered the Piazza and there they were....thousands of them....and my students...and daughter...wanted me....ME....to hold corn in my hands and let them walk on my arms and head. It was not going to happen....or so I thought...the next thing I knew...I was standing there like a scarecrow....almost physically ill...with two pidgeons walking toward my face. It was then I knew the difference in fear...and phobia. A phobia is an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. A fear is to be afraid of. Well...at least I know I an not an ornithophobiac. I just am afraid of birds. I was flogged by a duck at the tender age of 10, and a chicken at the age of 6. Birds and I have a long history...and it is not pretty. Of course....I must say....I was trying to get the duck's baby....before it entered the water...and the chick away from the hen....so I probably deserved the floggings...it does not make it any easier to be around birds. So, what are you afraid of? My husband says he is afraid of nothing...and to be honest, I have never seen anything that bothered him like birds do me. But then...maybe he has never been flogged by poultry. He was a firefighter for twelve years...I guess their fear is different from the rest of the world. As you can tell I survived the Italian pidgeons and lived to tell about it. Birds are a part of life...and we have an agreement....to just leave each other alone....and we are all fine with that. Happy Tuesday!