Are You Afraid of the Dark?

I'll start out by saying that I am terrified of many things: the dark, spiders, clowns, scary men hiding under my bed, vast spaces, confined areas, strange and/or loud noises, creepy trees, heights, sketchy-looking people/places, and the list goes on for a while. But I have a justifiable reason for each of these fears.


See? This is a scary clown. They’re all this scary. Totally sensible.

People tell me that I have a bunch of irrational fears. I think they’re wrong and my fears are completely rational, each of them justified. It's possible that only I will find them rational, but this means that they are indeed, rational, not irrational.

You have to understand that it's all in perception.

A common fear is a fear of heights (or if you want to be nit picky, a fear of falling that is induced by heights). This fear is seen as rational. Why? Because it's normal and, apparently, justifiable. How I see it: the possibly of falling is greater than the possibility of dying in the ocean, therefore a fear of heights is more rational than a fear of the ocean.

If you were deathly afraid of spiders, one might consider this a rational fear seeing as they are tiny death traps that have the ability to drain your life away with one bite. If you were deathly afraid of bumblebees, people point and laugh at you because, "Everyone knows they can't sting you!" This may be true, but they can also buzz very loudly and scare anxious people into thinking a gigantic hornet has magically appeared and is going to eat them.



Being scared of heights and lethal creepy crawlies is perfectly okay, whereas a fear of clowns or a large man hiding under your bed with the intent of killing you are irrational and silly. Not to me! In fact, it is quite the contrary.


How would you feel if this was hiding in your closet?

Breaking into a person's house is a common crime. That's why they have a name and law against breaking and entering. Murder is also (way too) common. Though both of these things are frowned upon, they also still occur.

As I take these into consideration (while also watching a handful of murder investigation shows [i.e. Law & Order, The Mentalist, and Criminal Minds]), I begin to wonder about the probability of this happening to me. This sends me into a frantic, panicky state of being that leads to me scrambling about, checking my window locks, looking under my bed, and checking for scary men (Freddy Krueger) hiding in my closets.



I tried to explain to my father that fears are all about perception, not necessarily reality. The mind is a powerful weapon that can create legitimate fear in the hearts of many. Just because something does not frighten you doesn’t mean that it can’t make another person run crying to their mommy.

I am often told that I am a pansy. This makes me indignant, belligerent, and very upset. I am not a wuss; I am strong and intelligent, and am alive today because my fears make me cautious, dang it.

I have not yet drowned in the ocean, been murdered or stung by a wasp, attacked by a man under my bed, kidnapped in the middle of the night, or eaten by a scary clown. Precaution saves lives!

It’s also quite possible that I am a wuss. Who knows? It's all up to your perception.