Fear vs. Phobia



Natural Bridge State Park, Slade, KY



During a team-building exercise that involved hiking to the top of the Natural Bridge Arch in Kentucky, I was partnered with my boss and we were instructed to tell each other what we were afraid of. I was shocked when she shared that she’d had a terrible fear of flying. She travels all over the world, so this was news to me. She said that she finally worked through her fear by listening to music that drowned out the sound of the plane engine.

Then I shared my biggest fear (heights), which I qualified as being completely different from my phobia of snakes. Debbie asked me what the difference was. I explained that to me, fears were something I could confront and work through. For instance, I was afraid to be on top of the Natural Bridge Arch, but if I didn’t go too near the edge, I could manage my fear. But if I saw a snake --  well, that’s a different story.

When I see a snake, I have a physical reaction. I don’t get the adrenaline rush of “fight or flight” unless you count passing out as “flight.” I have fainted before. And even when I don’t actually lose consciousness, things go black before my eyes, I feel  heat and panic course through my body, and my ears ring. I swear, if I could see my eyes, I think they’d look like those of someone in shock.

When I see a snake, I am temporarily paralyzed. When I finally can move, I run and tremble, and irrationally think that the snake is chasing me. THAT’s a phobia, in my mind. Seeing snakes makes me unable to function as normal.

Unfortunately, my hike up Natural Bridge brought me up close and personal with my biggest fear AND my biggest phobia. Luckily, I wasn’t near the edge of the arch when I thought I saw a snake (it was a tree root), because I would have surely fallen to my death.  It was enough that I froze in place while the world went black before my eyes. Then  I ran down that trail and back inside our cabin as quickly as my panicky legs would take me.