• How do you Cope with Overwhelming Fear?
    28 replies, posted
As of recently I have been experiencing a fear of mine which I just got over (In the last two years or so) which has been present my whole life. In fact, it is one of the only things I remember of my early child hood, which is saddening and makes me deeply depressed when I think about it - My fear of the dark. This fear is so damn potent it even makes me pass out, I'll give you a few examples: On my route to work I walk through a woodlands area upstream on the valley floor, it's not actually far from my home, I live in a rural village on the outskirts of a large town which is a 3 mile walk. I work as a sports instructor - it's tiring work, both mentally and physically. If you could imagine the sights, the place is beautiful, often lush with plant life and wildlife, it is one of the staple attractions to the coastal walks around here... but fuck in the morning that place is fucking scary, vapour rises up into a cloud and it's misty as all hell, giving you about a 20 meter visibility and it makes it dark, on top of the trees that obscure the sun in the mornings. On this route I get to this one point where all just fucks up, a boggy area with some industrial building blocks conveniently placed as stepping stones, by this point my body is just pumped full of adrenaline and my heart is beating like god knows what - my ears start to ring and my head just starts to buzz like someone is jamming a jack hammer into my skull, I passed out here twice, arm deep in bog smelling mud... not for long, I was only late by 10 or twenty minutes each time and ended up running through the place twice in a row. I stopped walking that route three days ago, finally deciding that shit is dangerous. (I now miss out an extra twenty minutes and a lie in I normally get if I go through that route.) Another is just a bold and plain example of what my childhood was like, I was sitting on the couch yesterday after washing the dishes (When it was light mind you, and it got dark after a few hours watching a movie then The Walking Dead) she asked me "Can you put the dishes away now", I knew the curtains to the back door weren't shut and neither the blinds, so I just replied with "Yeah, just watching this" but I wasn't. It was just an excuse to wait for her to close the curtains and blinds. And I have to go on a night hike on Dartmoor soon! shit that is a scary place, I've been there before in the dark and this is where we arrive in the middle of the night: [img]http://www.dartmoorcam.co.uk/cam/previouswalks/2010-6-24_FoxTorMire/DSC00013.jpg[/img] The place doesn't even have any curtains on the fucking windows! and it's creepy. This is also relatively close to the Fox Tor mire, an infamous area of Dartmoor that most walkers tend to avoid, because it is precariously dangerous (And I'm not even joking) and also famous for being the inspiration towards Arthur Conan Doyle's book the Hound of the Baskervilles, the setting of the Grimpen Mire. We walk across the bog with full expedition gear on (tent, stove, rollmat, sleeping bag and all the other things like clothes, food ect.) This is only a 8 mile hike, so it wont be too bad - and the mire is only a 2 mile walk, but it's the scariest area from when I last did it. [img]http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/images/Foxtora.gif[/img] (Whiteworks is where the bunkhouse is, Fox Tor is well... the tor, and the darker green area is the mire in the middle). I need to recover from this quickly... or I don't know what's going to happen.
Get a really bright flash light.
Burn it all down I can't blame you for feeling that fear. I mean, if I was alone on the countryside, and I couldn't see anything because it was all black, I'd be pretty scared too. I haven't been too much to the countryside, but one time I was on vacation in Austria, in a house by the mountains far away from everything else, and at night if you looked outside it would be just black. I couldn't see anything else. So yeah it really gave me the chills. You could just face your fears and go straight ahead. If you live through the worse and survive I don't think you would fear anything else. Also, think logically. Dissect your fear and overreason them. "Why am I afraid of the dark? There's no monsters there or anything, and probably nobody living there. If there is someone, I am fully prepared." And then just bully yourself a bit "What am I a pussy? I've been through this so many times, yet I'm still afraid"
white flash light is very useful in these case
As long as you got a flashlight and know how to defend yourself there should be no problem. More then likely there's nothing out there that's gonna get you if that's what you're worried about.
It's an irrational fear (Like most), I've bullied myself a bit but I just recluse when I do that... it makes it worse, I wont be alone also... I guess that is an added factor, but that has never lessened it in my case. And of course a flashlight, y'think I'm a donkey xD?
Like everyone else has said, just get a big light. Stick with the rest of the group and you should be fine
Not sure. I held one of the most poisonous snakes in the world without being afraid. Maybe I was stupid... or maybe it was a time where I didn't fear death. [editline]17th July 2012[/editline] in this case... seriously darkness is not scary at all. As long as you're with the people you like, you should be fine.
I'm actually hard pressed to think of things that frighten me, but things used to a lot. I just went, fuck it, the monsters will eat me whether I'm frightened or not, so fuck them, I'm not going to cower.
I dread the dark too, sucks man.
[QUOTE=FPKawaii;36809905]I dread the dark too, sucks man.[/QUOTE] It's making my life a living hell, literally no matter what I try. And because there is quite a lot of dark places where I live, It's inevitable that I'll encounter it again. It's even just dark corners, I blitz my room with some crazy bright lights and I have a lamp in literally every corner of my room.
I'm scared of the dark too but because of I have stopped believing in ghosts,a flashlight is enough to help me calm down(a bit,I'm still paranoid that a robber or a rapist will come get me while I'm walking alone in the dark)
I too find dark, uncovered, unlit windows to be creepy creepy creepy. I always feel like a face will pop up against the window. Always cover them when my mom opens the curtains.
So, why are you afraid of the dark? It's just the dark. I can understand fearing the unknown, or that something could be there, but what could be there that's a threat or that you couldn't handle?
[QUOTE='[Seed Eater];36810675']So, why are you afraid of the dark? It's just the dark. I can understand fearing the unknown, or that something could be there, but what could be there that's a threat or that you couldn't handle?[/QUOTE] I have no understanding of this fear, either a repressed memory or simply just irrational fear of something mostly harmless.
I used to be scared of the dark but over the course of several years I slowly started to work against it. I'd use rational thoughts to combat my irrational fear and mostly just flat out challenge my percieved phantoms on the dark by facing them and noting time and time again how I wasn't brutally murdered by some japanese horror monster that crawled out of a toilet or whatever. Whenever I felt watched or followed and I wanted nothing more than to run but I would control myself and keep my pace, not looking back, not giving in to the demands placed by my fear. And indeed slowly but surely I stopped being scared. Walking around the house at night was no longer an ordeal and I didn't have to obsessively turn on the light before entering a room, or run up/down dark stairs to escape my phantom pursuers, or be scared to cross a darkened hallway. Don't get me wrong, I still have those impulses. I think everyone does, fear is as natural as breathing and served a vital function in our evolution as a species. It would've been what kept out ancestors from getting eaten by lions in the middle of the night while taking a piss, kept travelers and settlers from stumbling and breaking a leg. And it still is a vital function, fear keeps us from taking stupid risks, it urges caution and keeps us alive and well. Fear is an advisor not to be lightly dismissed, but if you let fear rule you then you will find boldness grows increasingly hard to muster. As I said I still get these fears from time to time and I think that once you let fear rule you once it comes easier, that is why I fight it at every turn and never give in to the phantoms in the dark for I don't ever want to be a slave to my fears again. It took me years to overcome, years of cowering at the sight of a dark room, years of being chased by phantoms, years of torment that I hope never to relive.
i used to have a phobia about as bad as yours. i recall passing out or at the very least, becoming light-headed from fear when having to deal with it. the only way i can really suggest overcoming it is exposing yourself to it. like everyone else said, bring a flashlight for your hike - but this could be a good opportunity for you to work on overcoming your phobia.
Shielding yourself from the darkness requires an extensive apparatus. When you can afford it, do the following. You are to be contained in a 0.169 cubic meter (six (6) cubic feet) acrylic glass cage centrally suspended in a concrete room measuring 5.5 meters by 5.5 meters by 4.27 meters (18 feet by 18 feet by 14 feet). Attached to the walls, ceiling, and floor of the room are high-intensity arc lamp spotlights pointed directly at the acrylic cage, to ensure that you are constantly exposed to light from every angle. You can assign personnel to the control room and they are to monitor the functionality of the spotlights and the emergency generator system and call for maintenance immediately upon knowledge of a burnt-out lamp or an issue with the generator.
You live in silent hill. Don't go outside
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nba3Tr_GLZU[/media]
Just realize that every human that ever lived have died, and so would you, and me. Maybe then you wouldn't care too much what might happen to you, if anything at all.
[QUOTE=Grillkongen;36812690]Just realize that every human that ever lived have died, and so would you, and me. Maybe then you wouldn't care too much what might happen to you, if anything at all.[/QUOTE] Sick phrasing bro
It's actually an instinct to be wary of darkness when it's dark enough that you just can't see.
[QUOTE=Grillkongen;36812690]Just realize that every human that ever lived have died, and so would you, and me. Maybe then you wouldn't care too much what might happen to you, if anything at all.[/QUOTE] "Man that moor is creepy at night but we're all going to die at some point so there's no point in doing anything about it" this is probably how suicide pacts start
I don't know about being afraid of the dark, but what helps me feel better when when my social anxiety kicks in is closing my eyes, breathing in through my nose, counting to six, then breathing out through my mouth, repeated until I feel better. it doesn't make the fear go away in a snap, but if it helps me think clearly maybe it'll help you too. you've probably already tried it, but if the fear is irrational then obviously we'd want you to keep thinking rational thoughts.
Get four headlamps and strap them on so they face in all directions. There will be no darkness touching you. [editline]17th July 2012[/editline] BECOME A LIGHTHOUSE
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA6Rrs5kLg8[/media]
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