Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Fears

  In my last entry I mentioned my fear of haunted houses.  When I was pretty little, I think like four or five, my parents went to an amusement park with me, and they wanted to go in a haunted house, at first they thought maybe I was too young because it would scare me, but my dad talked my mom into it, and off we went.  I don't remember that ride, but according to my dad it was one of the most scary haunted houses that even he had been in.  From what they told me I had a little fear of dark places and haunted houses from that day on.  As I grew older, they gradually tried to get me into one.  I do remember the "Haunted Mansion" at Disney World, the first time, when I walked through those front doors, and they closed, I went wild, and I mean wild.  They said I started clawing at the doors first then just running frantically around, like a chicken with it's head cut off.  They couldn't close the door back, but they took me through a back way to get out, while they rode the ride.  I still remember the tears walking through and some lady calming me down.  The second time I made it to the elevator but when I saw the caskets the same thing happened, I was out of there.  I think they made me ride, but I screamed the entire ride.  It was kind of embarrassing as I got older, and went to fairs or amusement parks with friends, I always would sit out the scary rides.  I couldn't even ride Snow White without freaking out.  Finally when I was about 16 I invited a girl to go to the Halloween Carnival with me.  When we got there she wanted to go in the haunted house.  My hair on my arms stood out,  would I freak out again?  I got my courage up,and told myself it wasn't real.  For the first time I enjoyed being scared.  I enjoyed holding tight to someone when someone jumped out.  I also enjoyed being in the dark.  It took sixteen years for me to cope with this fear.  This makes me think about other fears that people deal with.  My dad was a flight instructor.  I always loved to fly, but I've met so many people with a fear of flying.  The thought of being airborne fills them with anxiety.  I remember when I first strarted working with the company I'm with, we flew a lot, and there was a girl terrified of flying.  I remember coaching her and trying to help her.  I evengave her a rubberband to wear on her wrist and told her to snap it to break unpleasant thoughts.  Then I told her to put her trust in God.  Nothing I could think of that would work much better than that.  When we are afraid, it may help to breath heavy or pop rubber bands.  But trusting in God is the best way to cope with any fear.  Give me faith Lord!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always hated those haunted house things at fun-fairs too but the thing that really frightend me as a young one (and has remained to this day) is a snap-shot of a film about possession - I remember children flying through the air.

I could have done with the comfort of being brought up with religion for a number of different reasons. Religious people always feel relatively safe. I'm going to make a promise to myself to seek out a "friendly" church, as I think giving my children the extra padding of belief can only serve them well.

Thanks for sharing this story Derek.

Tilly x
http://journals.aol.co.uk/tillysweetchops/Adventuresofadesperatelyfathouse/

Anonymous said...

BTW Just read about the painting in your about me section - I just made a discovery a few weeks ago and I want to spread the word to the world. You know how in DIY stores you can buy small 100-200ml "match pots, well I started to paint with these! They are so cheap, have a wider range of colours than acrylics and almost have the same texture on canvas (I paint my children's desks with them actually), plus they are low VCO and water soluable. I'm yet to find the down side, but I am slightly ignorant and as they seem almost too good to be true, I'm standing by to hear the bad news! However, try it and see what you think.
Tilly x
http://journals.aol.co.uk/tillysweetchops/Adventuresofadesperatelyfathouse/

Anonymous said...

Amen on that one..a little faith in a higher power is a wonderful thing to guide you .

Anonymous said...

Honey, I'm 34 and I only conquered my fear of Haunted Houses on Saturday. Believe it or not, Lance, Amy, and I took Autumn to a haunted house in Ocilla. This is a walk through Haunted House that would probably scare the crap out of a normal human being. However, we weren't quite normal on Saturday. We had a nice big get together on Saturday and had lots of fun. We decided about 10 to go to the Haunted House. Well, I'm like you, haunted houses scare the bajeez out of me. So, I decided to have a little shot or two to calm my fear. Plus, I didn't want my fear to rub off on Autumn. We got there and all the "actors" were outside. So, we talked to them, and I asked them not to scare Audi. They were pretty kind. Autumn thought it was hilarious. People would come out of door and scare us and I'd run in after them and pull them out and make them shake Autumn's hand. Freddy Krugger even walked over to Autumn and told her it was nice to meet her. Derek, I guess we just needed someone as crazy as us to make it almost a joke. I think I made it funny for me more than her.

Anonymous said...

    You are so right, Derek.  We all need someone to put our trust in, and God seems like the most reasonable one for the job !  tina http://journals.aol.com/onemoretina/Ridealongwithme