There has been something swirling round in my head for a
while now, so where better to let it out than here? So here we go:
Phobias. There are
thousands of phobias in the world. Some
of them are commonly known such as claustrophobia or arachnophobia; others not
so, like Bambakomallophobia
(fear of cotton wool) or climacophobia (fear of stairs).
I have previously talked about my phobias
when it comes to stairs on this blog.
For those that haven’t read: I get dizzy when coming down stairs and
have to hold on to the handrail. If
there is no hand rail my head starts to spin and I have practically morph
myself into the wall to get me down the stairs.
Going up, my foot has to be touching the step in front and again, have
to hold the handrail for dear life. In
short, stairs terrify me, even as little as three steps.
Whilst this phobia isn’t debilitating it
is something that I face every day as obviously it is impossible to completely
avoid staircases. My workplace has the
biggest staircase ever, go figure.
That isn’t the issue that has been
irritating me though. Here is where I am
having my little strop.
I am SICK of people laughing at me when
they see me on the stairs. I can
understand somebody the first time of seeing me asking me why I am going so
slowly (although I fail to understand why you would ask someone who is clearly
having issues with the staircase questions whilst they are still on
staircase). I don’t mind explaining the
first time because it does look odd. But
after that, there is no excuse.
It is RUDE to laugh at me, it is WHOLLY
impolite to say “Oh aren’t you funny” and it is FUCKING HORRIBLE to run down
the stairs at me on purpose when you know damn well that I am scared.
You wouldn’t do anything of those things
to someone with a better known phobia.
You wouldn’t trap a claustrophobic person into a wardrobe and you
wouldn’t throw a spider at an arachnophobic person so don’t behave that way
towards me. It isn’t something I chose
to be affected by and I can’t just “get over it” and I can’t “just try walking
down the stairs normally” (really??? Never thought of that, you fuckwit).
And……. Breath.
I feel much better after saying that. Sometimes you just have to get a little rant
on and everything feels better again.
Apologies for the swearing and not “using my words” but sometimes,
nothing but the word fuck will do.
There are times where you need to get things of your chest and get people to understand. Until now, I would have never come across a phobia like yours. And you are 100% correct, just coz other phobias are common, others are respected for that(and they are not laughed at). However, some are not..and people take the mick. Everyone is different and I still question why some people in society will not respect that! Take care xo
ReplyDeleteHave you ever thought it could be irlens syndrome?
ReplyDeleteI was diagnosed recently as I have difficulties with stairs.
Do some research xxx
I would never make fun of someone for their phobia, especially when they're trying to work through that fear head on, and I wouldn't make fun of someone because their actions looked a little different to the way I do something, either. People who do that are pathetic, horrible, and childish! I'm sorry you get all that grief on a regular basis- you don't deserve that. What jerks! You'd think with 7 billion people on this planet, we'd be more accepting of individuality, but most people just can't understand anything they haven't gone through themselves. If it doesn't involve blood and broken bones, people don't often get phobias, invisible illnesses, and mental health issues. If they're not willing to respect you, they're not worth your time and energy. And you've got every right to rant away about the subject! Let it out!
ReplyDeleteMy little sister has issues with escalators, and it takes her a few minutes to take the first step on and she panics til she gets off. xx (Oh, and I'm claustrophobic and arachnophobic, and I've been locked in enclosed spaces, held down under blankets so I couldn't get out (bloody sisters!), and had spiders thrown at me! People are mean!)
People are just plan sad. It is sad that you get grief from people. We all have phobias and the people who are giving you mess are just dumb.
ReplyDelete