Phobia's

Phobia's are a natural part of life, or so I am told. Most people have at least one phobia they deal with in their lifetime, for example: flying, spiders, snakes, heights, clowns, or in my case bee's. However my phobia is a healthy and completely rational fear.  I am mildly allergic to bee stings and I know the pain and suffering it causes when stung, which feeds the idea of a phobia into my brain.


Now some people have irrational fears or unhealthy fears. This doesn't make you crazy like some of your friends and family members might tell you. It just means you have a fear and you are emotional and irrational about it. Take my son Samuel for example. We received a call one morning asking us to go from our Olympia home, into Port Orchard to rescue an F-3 female Savannah cat for rehousing. Samuel was about 6, making my daughter 4 years old at the time. So I explained to my children that we were going to take a ferry across the water to Port Orchard. Apparently this idea was much to complex  for my son who is a deep thinker and questionable planner. He was positive that the boat would not hold our car, and that we would sink into the freezing cold water and DIE.


So like any good parent we convinced him of his safety and compromised with him to calm his fears. We packed along our life jackets that we use when ever we go out in the kayaks together as a family. I was sure that as soon as he saw the size of the ferry that he would realize that he was afraid all for nothing. So we started on our trip and eventually made our way to the ferry dock. We played games while we waited in a long line of cars to be loaded up. Samuel seemed calm and collected not a worry in his little head. Actually he seemed more excited than anything else. The time came and we drove our car on to the ferry where we were instructed to park. My husband and I start to grab our things to take with us up above in the viewing area. No sooner did I turn around to instruct my kids to carefully get out of the car, when I noticed my two darling children carefully strapped into their life jackets sitting calmly in their car seats. We set our things aside, climbed back into the car and proceeded to have a emotionally healthy family chat.


Long story short, everything ended up well. Samuel and Audrey eventually removed their life jackets and we were able to enjoy the rest of our trip in Port Orchard. The lesson I learned that day wasn't about the actual fear of something. Anyone can be afraid of anything. It was about understanding what drives the fear,  the decisions and measures it takes to slowly over come those irrational feelings, and move forward from there.


I still have my phobia of bee's. However I have learned for myself that I can over come those irrational fears by simply being prepared. I always carry benydral and a cell phone with me at all times. I have bee sting products on hand in my car when I go places, and I always watch for potential places of hazard. I'm not cured of my phobia but I am much better off, and am now better equipped to deal with my irrational fear of bee's.