Day 6: What are you Afraid of? in About

Well, let's see... I don't have any extreme fears of like spiders or heights or snakes or getting mugged on the street or anything like that.

I fear change and the unknown, I struggle so much with this. It's not like a panicked type of fear... It's an anxious/worry type of fear. Like "what if..." everything? It's totally not stuff worth worrying about, but I do. And I like surprises and doing/trying new things, so it's really hard for me to manage this. It seems to be bigger scale stuff that makes me worry (moving, new jobs, having kids (?), etc.)

But I see this on smaller scales, too. I get really anxious on difficult ski terrain when I don't know where I am or the safe routes down. If I've done it before or I'm with someone who knows, I am fine and just take my time. If I am alone and it's scary I get very upset. I got lost on Mt. Hood in a storm and wound up alone in raging snow above some horrible cliffs (Ben would have gone sailing over them but I am not so brave). I was just crying on a traverse track when a really nice patroller found me and had me follow him down.

Or driving... I don't hate driving if I know where I'm going. If I'm in a new city or a part of the city I don't know, I feel uncomfortable and anxious. And I am a good driver and grew up driving in a city... It's just that element of unknown that is scary to me.

So now you know.