Phobias can concur in a lot of ways. Some can start without reason. Most of the time, unfortunately, phobias have a reason why and usually it deals with a traumatic event. One of my phobias is the fear of darkness: nyctophobia
Understandably, being afraid of the dark has around for centuries. During our Caveman days before discovering fire, there were and still are predators who hunt at night with relative ease while we humans were sitting ducks. Also we humans have crappy eyesight at night but pretty decent hearing. Plus nyctophobia can creat another phobia: xenophobia, the fear of the unknown.
Today being afraid of the dark mainly affects children and is considered a normal stage of development. There are, however, some adults are still afraid of the dark. For me, it was a field trip back when I was in first or second grade where my small fear of the dark turned into a phobia.
We went to a science museum next to the Houston River where you can see the Statue of Liberty and at that time the Twin Towers. One of the exhibits dealt with the senses. Most of the exhibit was taken up by a maze that had to completed in total darkness on our hands and knees if you wanted to. Some of my class had to go in groups and stay in those groups per teacher's orders. One of the employees said that there are speakers around and will guide if we get lost or stuck.
I wanted to try and went with a group of four where I was the only girl. I was also considered a nerd and a teacher's pet. With jealousy, wanting to keep their 'cool' streak, and fear of cooties; the boys went ahead of me quickly. Leaving me behind by myself in cramp dark maze alone despite my shouts for them to wait and not to leave me. Adrenaline and fear start to creep in which can make anyone not think properly. I kept running into walls or dead ends and felt like I was going in circles with the many turnarounds I did.
The speaker system either sucked or the person in charge to speak on the system poorly gave directions and sounded mumbled. Soon enough I hit my head really hard against a corner. After that I did what any first or second grader would do in a scary situation; sat down and screamed with tears in my eyes. The lights turned on, a new group found me, and lead me to the emergency exit that was near the half way point of the maze. I assigned a new group and the boys gotten in trouble.
Thanks to that event, I still sleep with a night light and take two night lights with me if I travel anywhere. One for the bedroom and one for the bathroom. I really hate motion sensor lights because either they don't work or time out after awhile, leaving me in complete darkness. I also hate power outages or brown outs where the power only went out for a few seconds. I can turn very pale and look like I am about to have a panic attack when I am in complete darkness. I always look for a way to escape out of the dark. That is why as much as I would like to have picnic under the stars with lit candles and a real camping trip; I don't think I can handle despite trying to conquer my fear. I even completed the dark maze again before I moved out of New Jersey. Ironically, they removed the dark maze exhibit shortly after I completed it. It makes wonder how many children got traumatized by that maze.
