According to the 5th edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, a phobia is “a persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.” Under that definition, I have a phobia for snakes.
I’m not alone in this—check out Indiana Jones, for example. And I think I have a pretty good excuse. There are no wild snakes in Alaska. My dad moved us to the state courtesy of the U.S. Army when I was six, so I grew up there. Snakes are foreign to me.
I understand intellectually that most snakes are harmless, but I can’t control my reaction to them. When we’re traveling Outside (outside of Alaska) and come across a snake on a hike or in a sunny spot along a building, I’m liable to jump while my heartbeat races as fast as a sports car. Others will reassure me, but my body doesn’t calm down until the snake is long gone.
Where it comes up more often is that I can’t watch snakes on TV shows or movies, either. As soon as something slithers, I have to look away. My husband takes it all in stride, telling me when it’s safe to look again. He’s gotten me through more nature shows and films than we could count. Which gives us a silver lining to the whole phobia: hubby gets to be my knight in shining armor every time. It’s a moment of romance in our lives.
Thanks, Darlin’! Maybe this little phobia isn’t so bad after all, if it brings more romance to our lives. 😊
Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for most of her life. After twenty years in the classroom, she retired to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering for her local library. Her young adult historical romance is set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com.
5 comments:
Great blog post! I do not watch the tv when the shows start showing pythons in the everglades of Florida. Yuck!!!
Lynn, that used to be me except I would scream and bury my head or run..that certainly made things interesting when out with friends. In school, I'd "squeak" and the book would fly somewhere. No t.v until I was in 8th grade and then the programming was limited.
After the NLP session I wrote about in my 10/06 post, I can see a snake of any size or type and not panic. Not that I want to be 'up close and personal'. What I do know is if I see one on t.v or in a book/magazine, on the computer or in real life, I no longer will be screaming, running away, and/or becoming hysterical.
Thanks, Judith and Diana!
I had too many run-ins with real snakes and spiders when I loved overseas in the tropics. They still freak me out, as I noted in my blog post that will be up on Tuesday, October 17. AHHHH!
I'm there with you. Whatever slithers and slides is not my friend. Uggh!
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