Over the weekend, I conquered a fear. Okay, well maybe not conquer, but I definitely faced a few head on by going to a haunted house.
If you know me well, you know that Halloween is my favorite holiday. You also know that even though I like scary movies and this time of year, I am terrified of haunted houses and the things inside them. I am also absolutely terrified of clowns. It's almost a crippling fear and most haunted houses have clowns in them because who isn't afraid of a psycho clown?
I began to panic in line, to the point where I almost decided it wasn't worth it to stay, but after a pep talk from a friend, I managed to make my way inside.
There were five of us who went in together. We formed a single file line for the most part and I clutched onto my friend's coat and kept my head down. Aside from a few profanities when people jumped out at me, I managed to make it through the first part of the haunted house.
When we arrived at the second part, we discovered only four of us could go in at a time. One of our friends decided to try to sweet talk a woman with a cage on her head and she decided to push him forward to go through the four person part alone. Poor guy. Once the rest of us were allowed through, we were greeted by a ton of creepy people asking us what happened to our friend Andy. One of the people cut in front of me and completely blocked my way. He kept saying he wanted me to break and that he was going to make me cry. To say I was terrified would be an understatement, but I managed to remain calm (on the outside) and eventually made it by him.
After what felt like an hour, we were nearing the end. I began to think to myself "wow, this really wasn't that bad" until we walked into a fucking circus. (What haunted house is complete without a circus?) And where there is a circus, there are creepy ass clowns.
I thought I was going to cry. I started to hyperventilate, but started to calm myself down once I realized the evil clowns would love to see me freak out. I knew the second I showed weakness, they'd spring on me and I'd never see my friends again. (Okay, that's a bit dramatic, but people in haunted houses prey on the weak and I did not want to get stuck in a room with my biggest fear.)
When I finally escaped the haunted house, we realized that our friend Andy still wasn't with us. Of course he would be the one to get lost or held up in a haunted house... Luckily, he was only a few paces ahead of us and we were finally reunited. He said being separated from us kind of made his night. Better him than me. I would've sprinted through the rest of the haunted house if I had to do it alone (and I don't sprint anywhere).
Any way, what I got out of this evening in hell was that 1) I can make it through terrifying situations as long as I am confident I can do it and 2) some things that I am scared of are things that aren't actually real. Haunted houses are full of actors who are just people. Clowns are creepy as hell, but honestly, what has a clown ever done to me? At the end of the day, I can make it through this kind of stuff because it is just pretend.
Sometimes in life, you will have to face your fears. Be it moving away and starting over, addressing a large group of people in a meeting, or going through a haunted house without crying, doing something that scares you can help you realize some things aren't actually that scary after all.
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| I was scared before everyone else |
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