Phobias

Phobias. There are endless amounts of phobias people have, we looked them up during IT today. For example, a fear of going to school is Didaskaleinophobia; a fear of long words is Hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia (ironic isn't it?); a fear of being tickled with feathers is Pteronophobia. But all this talk about phobias got me thinking and I can't think of anything I'm scared of.

I'm not trying to sound tough or anything here, I genuinely cannot think of anything. Katie is scared of cows and Caitlin swears she has Taxidermophobia (a fear of stuffed animals in particular stuffed heads e.g deer heads). But I don't suffer from any of these. I'm not afraid of spiders - I'll quite happily pick them up; snakes, cows, deer and other animals have no effect on me; darkness and thunderstorms have always fascinated me; I love being high up off the floor; and growing old/being forever alone is something I couldn't care less about.

I'm perfectly aware that all this makes me seem a bit odd but I don't mind as this is what makes me well, me. However, discussing this with friends is pointless as they are all afraid of something (some are extremely irrational) and refuse to believe that there is nothing that bothers me, scares me or terrifies me.

Personally I think that phobias are for people who are afraid of confronting things. If you're scared of the dark, go and sit in a dark room for a bit. If you're scared of bats, learn about them. You can always conquer your fears and if you can't, then maybe there is an underlying issue that you aren't willing to discuss with other people which is sad. You need to talk to people, irrational fears inhibit you.

James Dean once said 'Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.' The last sentence is the best part, and also my favourite part, of the quote. Very few of us have the fortune of knowing exactly when we will die but you can be damn sure you will at some point so why waste the time we do have worrying about things and fearing things when you could be enjoying life? Think about it, you know it makes sense.