"Is this the little girl who is afraid of a butterfly?" my uncle said as we celebrated my Birthday. I was turning 3 that year, and was petrified of the candles on my cake. I was also scared half to death of butterflies (any insect for that matter), the dark, dogs, getting sick, getting hurt, you name it and I was probably afraid of it. My mom said that I would not go out on the porch if there was an ant crawling around. I did not like to go in the sandbox, because I knew that there were worms and bugs residing there. I would take a tums before I got a stomach ache, for fear that I would get a stomach ache. I also washed my hands constantly. My aunt laughed because I wouldn't go into her house because there was a dog (upstairs in the cage) and I wouldn't go outside because there was a butterfly. I would stand in the doorway, wondering what I should do...which fear was the worst. It is funny to me that I was so OCD and neurotic.
As I got older, those fears went away, but new ones formed. The fears that I developed as a teenager and adult were not as easy to see as when I was younger. Of course, I feared the normal things like rejection, but one of the biggest things I feared was not being able to please everyone, and that people would stop being my friends because they couldn't deal with the asthma stuff that I was dealing with.
It is amazing to me however, how people are placed in your life at the exact time you need them. This year especially, I feel like I am slowly becoming less afraid, and it has a lot to do with the people that have come into my life , and the people that have been in my life for awhile and are still there at every turn. When you have amazing people in your life, people that believe in you when you don't believe in yourself, you can do amazing things!
So...what are you afraid of?
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