Who's afraid of the dark...

What truly frightens you?  There seems to be a familiar trend from articles I’ve read in that the two highest ranking fears people tend to have are either death or public speaking.  I must admit that neither one of these cause me to lose much sleep or any bouts of extreme nervousness.  However, this is not to say that I don’t have my own personal fears.

My biggest fear is the loss of my parents.  What child doesn’t live with that harsh reality?  But moving onto a more personal level, I have no shame in admitting that I am afraid of the dark.  Yes, even at my age the dark of the night will still set my heart racing at times.  Whether it's running out for a forgotten item from the car or simply letting the dog out one last time, there is a sense of fear in me to do this after the sun goes down.  It never fails that when I'm home the stairwell light will be switched off at the top leaving the bottom switch useless.  For those of you who have to climb a dark flight of stairs in order to retire for the night, how many of you will truthfully admit that on occasion you find yourself racing up them with the ridiculous idea that someone or something is coming up after you?  I raise my hand high and will acknowledge that I still do this.

Yet why is it that so often we are drawn to situations that bring out our fears?  For example, I love reading a good ghost story even though I know full well that I most likely will have trouble getting to sleep that night and knowing far too well that even if I am able to get to sleep Lord help me if I awaken in the night and need to use the washroom….  I’d rather suffer from kidney troubles than risk that dark hallway!  To this day I will never understand how my best friend was able to be home alone, her house being well out in the country, and watch horror movies with every light off.  But I digress…

What draws us to indulging in our fears?  It has always been my understanding that fears are ideas that bring out states of nervousness and anxiety but yet... they fascinate us at the same time.

 

Do we really ever conquer our fears?  You hear so often about how you are to face them dead on and somehow this will exonerate them.  Personally I have never found this to be true.  I believe that any fear you are able to subside does only that.  It never truly goes away.  You get somewhat use to it, comfortable in acknowledging that to some degree that particular fear will always be a part of you.

Although my fear of the dark is certainly better today then it was when I was a child, I have come to the realization that no matter what I do it is inevitable that there will be times in my life where I will wake during the wee hours of the night and something will go bump.