Fear Itself - The GloBELL ROAR

Admit it. You’re scared. Everyone is scared of something, and people are afraid of many different things. Perhaps what you hate the most is spiders, or you cannot stand the thought of a class presentation. Maybe you are terrified of heights. Well, you’re not alone. Phobias affect 10% of all adults [1].

A phobia can be defined as “an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, or people”. [2] Phobias are a type of anxiety disorder. Presently, mental health specialists have distinguished hundreds of phobias. Some are totally understandable, some are slightly mystifying, while others are just full-on outrageous!

Here, let me give you some examples: arachnophobia is the fear of spiders, and it is the most common animal- based fear. For me, I don’t think spiders deserve to live. Quite frankly, they look disgusting! I mean, who (besides possible extraterrestrial life) has eight eyes? That’s just abnormal! Arachnophobia is irrational, but it’s understandable. Not to freak you out, but there is a myth saying people “eat” an average of eight spiders a year in their sleep...Heights. They think that a simple “don’t look down” can solve this problem for you, but they are completely wrong! Personally, I would love to enjoy the thrill of bungee jumping one day, but for some, acrophobia (fear of height) is a serious issue. They are scared they might fall and get injured or die, even if they are standing behind a solid glass door.

Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. Don’t look at that word if you have a fear of long words, because it means exactly that. I’m not kidding! It actually is a word in the dictionary. Those people who named phobias sure had a ironic sense of humour! How about arachibutyrophobia aka fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth? I would be terrified, but that’s just because I’m deathly allergic. But what about those NON-allergic people? Here’s another one: triskaidekaphobia refers to the fear of the number 13, which is oddly justifiable, considering the superstitious beliefs.

Maybe they had a bad experience with them or have seen them portrayed as sinister in a movie, but some people actually have a fear of clowns! That seems unbelievable, but coulrophobia is real! I have yet to meet a person with such a strange phobia! Most likely, they are terrified since they cannot see a clown’s true emotions. He might be smiling and happy, but his true emotion may be just waiting to bit your head off!

I once heard that people are more terrified of public speaking than death. Seriously? That sounds a bit idiosyncratic to me. Like Jerry Seinfeld said, “This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.” [3] Don’t get mewrong. I am not mocking those who are intimidated by speeches. We are probably all nervous to a certain degree about standing in front of a crowd and talking or giving a performance.

I’ll admit it. I get apprehensive thinking about the massive list of things that could go wrong during my performance. Knowing how clumsy I am, I could trip across the stage and knock someone unconscious. Or I could think of something funny and laugh during a performance. Worst, I could forget all my lines to a speech and stand there, gaping like a fish at the audience. I already successfully accomplished several errors in the field of public speaking, and the worst thing that happened was the audience laughing and a few sympathetic glances in between. I mean, they did forget my fiasco when the next unfortunate soul went in the spotlight!

To overcome a phobia, it may help to have a generally positive outlook on life, and to tell yourself: “Hey, what’s the worst that could happen?” Like the all too famous cliché said, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself”.

1 Statistic According to the National Institute of Mental Health

2 definition taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobia

3 http://fortifyservices.blogspot.com/2007/03/fear-of-public-speaking-why.html