Can You Hear Me Now

Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

Hellen Keller

Just for fun, I went to Very Well Mind and glanced through the many phobias and fears it describes.  Some were pretty amazing and several downright surprising.  For example, who knew there were people who suffer from medorthophobia (the fear of erections)?   

There were also some phobias that I expected to see, but did not find.  That may be a limitation of the website or perhaps they aren’t proper fears but more emotional quandaries. 

Here are a few that I can personally identify with.

Gephyrophobia is the fear of crossing high bridges.  I’ve know about this one for years.  In my case, the fear is that I will lose control of my sense of reason and madly toss myself from the bridge into the abyss below.  On extremely high bridges, like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, I have literally found myself gripping the guard rails and bearing down on my feet in an effort to stay in control.  The extremely odd thing about this is that when I have been in situations where the appropriate thing to do would be to throw myself off, like small cliff jumping it takes great effort before I am able to take flight.  I fear that I will throw myself off high places, yet I am too chicken to actually do it.  Go figure.

Chiroptophobia is the fear of bats.  While I don’t have an overall fear of bats, I have a fear of bats in my house.  I can sit outside and let them swoop and dance over my head and not feel the slightest twinge of fright.  However, it’s a completely different story when they’ve made their way into my house and bedroom.  Do you have any idea how frightening it is to wake up to a bat flying around your room and coming within inches of your head?  I do and it’s not something I care to repeat.

Musophobia is the fear of mice.  Like chiroptophobia, I have no problem with mice in their proper place, but I have a very difficult time dealing with them in my house, or worse, under my bed.  The funny part is that I feel the same about them whether they are dead or alive.  I find it extremely difficult to remove a dead mouse from a mousetrap.  Perhaps this is something altogether different and is instead thanatophobia, the fear of death and dying, but my specific fear seems to be strictly related to dead mice. A dead horse in the house? No problem.

Iatrophobia is the fear of doctors.  For me it is more an avoidance of doctors rather than a fear.  Sadly, I think many men share this problem.  In our efforts to be strong and self reliant we shun anything that makes us appear weak and needy.

Metathesiophobia is the fear of change.  As a Cancer, I am doomed to suffer from this one from time to time and of all my fears, this is the one I put in the most effort to overcome.

Anyone who has seen A Charlie Brown Christmas must remember this one.  Panophobia is the fear of everything.  Only in a deep, dark, intensely Charlie Brown moment would that be my phobia.  Thankfully, that has yet to happen.  

For the past year I have had a serious fear of retirement. While there is no official retirement phobia, it probably falls into the metathesiophobia camp. I have been too set in my ways for far too long and the idea of doing something different has been more than frightening. Thankfully, I have been able to face that fear head on in a little more than a week I will be a free man.

That’s enough for now. I would love to hear your phobias. Better yet, I would love to hear how you overcame them.