Happy Halloween – I thought it only fitting with Halloween this weekend to write about being fears and all things scary and at the extreme of the two – phobias.
Fear as a protective measure is necessary for our survival however, throughout the history of humankind, we have seen the rise of extreme fears and phobias ranging from what some might consider totally weird to absurd – FalseEvidenceAppearingReal
“One persons fear is another persons flight of fancy and freedom” – Louise Crosby
For some of us facing our fears comes more easily than for others and endeavouring to force someone to face a fear when they are not ready can often serve to exacerbate the fear or set up another fear.
As a coach and practitioner of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), I’ve worked with a wide range of clients with an equally diverse range of fears. It is important to remember that whilst we might think a fear or phobia to be irrational it is real in the mind of the individual – hence a bit of kindness and compassion without of course reinforcing the fear.
Fear and the situation, event or experience that triggered the state of fear as with all other information entering your system are represented in your neurology through your sensory representational systems, through one or more of the five senses; visual, auditory, kinaesthetic (tactile/touch), gustatory (taste) or olfactory (smell). The process or sequence of sensory-based descriptions is occurring below your conscious awareness, which of course is why it is challenging at times to overcome a fear. You need to be able to change the sensory-based representation to change the representation of the experience and subsequent fear response – not something taught in school.
Elite athletes are familiar with the technique of visualization or mental imagery to enhance their performance and see themselves winning along with positive internal dialogue or self-talk imagining the sounds of the crowds cheering (auditory sense) and feeling the bodily sensations (kinaesthetic) of what it feels like to be winning. They don’t focus on their fears, they focus on what they want and if they fall prey to their fears, it can become their downfall and the foregoing of that winning position and subsequent reward. In a similar way, you can learn to transform your fears by changing your sensory-based representations of an experience.
Now let’s get down to a bit more of the weirdness of fears, after all it is Halloween. I thought I would share some of the more unusual phobias with you and then keep on reading as I have a thought provoking question for you.
9 Unusual fears with the first up being pertinent to today’s celebration
- Samhainophobia – fear of Halloween
- Allodoxaphobia – fear of opinions
- Octophobia – fear of the number 8
- Sesquipedalophobia – fear of long words
- Paraskavedekatriaphobia – fear of Friday the 13th
- Panophobia – you are scared of everything
- Ambulophobia – fear of walking
- Apeirophobia – fear of infinity
- Gamophobia – fear of being in a relationship, commitment or getting married
And now for that thought provoking question and a big one at that.
What’s the scariest thing you have ever done in your personal life or your business/professional life or what do you fear most? It might be one or several of the following or something entirely different –
- Leaving your country?
- Rejection?
- Asking that special someone out on a date?
- Losing your freedom?
- Saying no? Yep that’s a scary one for many.
- Losing your smart phone?
- Travelling alone in a dangerous location?
- Having that entrepreneurial seizure and not knowing what to do next?
- Death and dying?
- FOMA – fear of missing out?
- Spiders – Arachnophobia?
- Giving birth?
- Old age?
- Giving up a substance addiction?
- Anuptaphobia – fear of not being in a relationship -being single or alone?
- Jumping out of an aeroplane (at altitude of course and with a parachute on)?
- The unknown?
- Quitting a job with very little funds in the bank to start your own business?
- Facing a serious illness?
- Public Speaking?
- Failure?
- Walking away from a relationship?
- Changing careers?
- Asking for help when you’ve always been the “strong one”
Scary invokes fear and fear can either empower you or render you to feel powerless. Like the Halloween tradition of trick or treat, fear can “trick” you into not doing something that you want to or into doing something that you don’t want to – OR fear can “treat” you to the opportunity for learning and growth even if a bit of help is needed.
What’s it going to be for you Trick or Treat?
Over to you to share in the comments below…
Anita Pava says
Great article Louise! Fear is a very interesting topic and I’ve battled many levels of different fears over time. I pride myself on pushing through these barriers and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment, when I’m on the ‘other side’, so to speak. I love your twist on Halloween and there seems to be (on Facebook) some aggression towards this topic in Australia, from Australians who don’t want to be ‘invaded’ by this predominantly American tradition. Perhaps they have Samhainophobia? Jumping to another topic: I was tickled by the long name for Sesquipedalophobia – fear of long words. Hope they don’t choose to learn German! Happy Halloween to you xox
Louise Crosby says
Thank you for your contribution and sharing Anita. You have certainly achieved some EXTAordinary things in your life. There is no escaping fear in one form or another and something that every living being experiences from varying degrees throughout their lifetime. About Halloween – I love to learn about special occasions and rituals from different cultures and accept Halloween in the spirit of fun and community, albeit I would prefer to see a healthier and more environmentally friendly approach however it is only once a year. xx