Zoophobia
Kelvin, me and Dee at the Caversham Wildlife Park for the Discovery Perth Tour organised by ISC Curtin. For those of you who know me well, you will know that I'm scared... I'm scared of everything. You name it, I'm most probably scared of it. The first thing I'm scared of is animals. I'm afraid of all animals big and small, except for maybe ants and flies and mosquitoes... other than that, I'm scared of EVERYTHING. People don't seem to understand the immense fear I feel when I'm close to an animal. it's actually a phobia I have. As defined on the net somewhere: A phobia is an unreasonable fear that can cause avoidance and panic. Phobias are a relatively common type of anxiety disorder.
I have zoophobia. Zoophobia may have one of two closely related meanings: a generic term for specific phobias to particular animals, or an irrational fear or even simply dislike of any non-human animals. Mine would be the latter...I'm afraid of all animals. But it's not like I want to be afraid of animals, I really like cute dogs and I wish I could go pet them, but this phobia just gets in the way...=(
People often asked me if something happened in my childhood that might trigger this behaviour... but honestly I can't recall ever being attacked by any sort of animal that would cause me to be zoophobic. I've just known since young, I've always been afraid of animals. The earliest memory I had was when I was in year 2 and a "farm" came to our school, so we all sat around in a circle and there were all these animals that we could pet. The teacher then passed around some chicks... omg... I was so terrified but had no idea why I couldn't get the courage to hold it. It's not like it did anything to me... but I just knew I was afraid.
I would say that birds and guinea-pig-like-rodents are the worst. It's ok if the animal is behind a cage or behind glass... but I had adverse reactions to animals when there are no barriers between me and the animal. It's so sad...
Other things I'm afraid of include... well... if I told you, then people would be constantly on my back trying to scare me... so I don't think I will share what else I'm scared of! =P You can try to find out though.
Anyway, this picture is quite siginificant for me... as this is about as close as I can get to a wild animal. WOW! I've never been this close to a kangaroo before! Kelvin and Dee practically had to drag and hold me down. Thank God the kangaroo did not move... *phew*
*be proud of meee*
One day I hope to be cured of my phobia so I can own my own doggie ^^
today...
@11:04 am