I had this fear when I was a kid, I was scared of darkness. Once light (electricity) goes off I will cling unto my Dad like my life depended on it. One might argue that almost all kids are afraid of the dark, while that might be right, my fear of darkness didn't just end at my childhood, it grew up with me, sticked to me and in fact became worst.
I could not sleep with lights off, neither could I let myself have fun when it was dark. It was stiffing! It actually took me 19yrs of my life to get over that fear. I would tease my friends for being scared of lizards, heights, cockroaches etc. little did they know that the "fearless-looking Audrey" in fact, had her own fears (just that it never showed just during the day).
The list of the type of fears is endless, ranging from fear of heights, fear of writing in public (yeah, it does exist), fear of hairy people, fair of being alone etc. the list is just endless. While some of these fears might seem bizarre and unrealistic, it is quite real to people who suffer from it and makes the feel constrained and oppressed.
Our fears always appear to be big and much more serious, until we let ourselves to face it then, we realize how small it really is. I exposed myself to my fear- Darkness, I will switch off the light in the room intentionally and stay inside. I realized it was nothing really, and now I wonder why I let that kept me away from so much fun that I would have enjoyed. I still sleep with lights on though (but I don't freak out when lights are off), I grew out of fear of darkness, but I definitely didn't grow to love it.
Confronting our fears might be really difficult, but if we really want to grow out of our fear and have control over it, then we really should work on that.
I read somewhere that our ability to fear is what makes us escape when danger comes (actually my Mum did), so our ability to fear is so as to keep us safe and not to keep us away from enjoying life. Letting ourselves dwell in our fear makes us do less of that and keeps us away from life. We shouldn't let it do that.
Saying you should never fear will be really unrealistic, but letting fear control you is what we do not want. Fear will arise and might take over us without notice. We should learn to face our fears and not dwell on it, don't let your fears keep you from seeing the beauty of life.
Much Love, Audrey
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