Childhood Fears: How They Affect Us and Overcoming Them

Oh, hello my geeks and peeps, my explainers and entertainers, my little oodlallies! Rebecca Parham here. So, this is a little embarrassing, a possible design flaw, but my elevator swing is, uh, stuck. But don't worry, I called for reinforcements earlier. So, do you think you could get here soon? Oh, thanks. Great, you're a lifesaver, buddy. Yeah, no problem. I'll be there in a flash. Okay, bye-bye. Hey, wait a second. Yes, I know I'm a toon and I could technically survive the fall, but the landing is still painful and the way down is still very scary, and I'd rather spare myself the fear, thank you. So, until the Calvary arrives, why don't we just chat? Fear is a funny thing, isn't it? If you've seen Pixar's Inside Out, you know that each of your emotions has a job to do that's essential to your survival and overall well-being. Fear's job is to keep you safe, stop you from doing stupid things that will hurt or kill you, physically, emotionally, and socially. But sometimes fear makes some strange decisions about what it perceives to be a threat. Yes, I see your point about this giant cliff. Very big, very scary, very dangerous. But, uh, why? When we're kids, fear is a kid too. It hasn't figured out the world yet. It doesn't know what it's supposed to be afraid of. I don't trust that vacuum. But that strange man offering free candy out of his white van? Now that's the picture of trustworthy right there. When I was a kid, my biggest fear was loud noises. And by extension, I feared anything that made loud noises. Most specifically, fireworks, those doorstoppers that go and especially balloons. My mortal enemy, we meet again. A balloon just had to be in the room and I would side-eye it suspiciously the entire time. Like I thought, any second now it will inexplicably pop out of nowhere. And then I'll die. I was talking to my mom about this old phobia of mine, and she told me this story from when I was three years old. I don't personally remember this incident, but it certainly left a mark on my mom. One weekend, my parents took me and my sister Rachel to the circus. The whole three rings. Clowns, flying trapeze, tightrope walkers. You get it. Now I don't and have never had a fear of clowns. So I didn't mind when the painted jokesters emerged, driving their comedically small vehicle to perform the classic clown car gag. The car drove up, the door opened, a clown avalanche occurred, and then as the car was being driven away, it backfired out its tailpipe. And it backfired incredibly loudly, like the blast of a shotgun, complete with special effects flash and puff of smoke. And I, sitting in the stands with my family, was so horrified by this sudden loud noise that I stood up, put my hands on my ears, and just started screaming at the top of my lungs. Just standing there. Screaming. It's like I thought, if I'm just louder than the loud noise, I shall win the day. My sister Rachel must have thought, oh, I guess this is what we're doing now. Because she quickly followed suit, standing up with her hands on her ears, being the harmony to my melody of terror. I didn't get taken to another circus until I was 11 years old. And it was Cirque du Soleil. As an adult, I can say I pretty much grew out of this fear. Me and balloons, we're back on speaking terms. But if I'm honest, there's still a small part of me that doesn't care for sudden loud noises. If you ever watch me during a firework show, you can see a teeny tiny little micro flinch every time one of those big mortars goes off. It probably looks like I have a nervous tick or something. Now, another fear I had growing up was oddly specific, but maybe it's one a few of you can relate to. I was absolutely terrified of the feeling of flying out of your seat on theme park rides. You know, the thing that people actually like about theme park rides? The thing they stand in line for 90 minutes to experience? Anything with a steep drop in it made me think I was going to die. It could be a roller coaster, a log flume, a shoot the shoot ride if you want to get theme park nerdy. But my absolute nemesis growing up was the drop tower rides. The big tall towers that suddenly drop you. One of the most famous drop towers is the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror over at Hollywood Studios in Disney World. This ride was my worst nightmare. You see, Disney is really good at setting a mood and psyching you out before you even get on the ride. Theming, as they call it. And I was very susceptible to all of that as a kid. I had a hard time remembering that this was all make-believe. So a drop tower themed as a creepy haunted hotel with an elevator that will kill you? Yeah, that was maybe a little bit of a trigger for young me. And very often on our Disney vacations, an adult had to wait outside with me while everyone else enjoyed the ride. So when I was about eight years old, I was still dealing with this fear. And mom and dad saw this as a teaching opportunity. Time to face one's irrational fears head on and learn that there are far more terrifying things in this world than an amusement park ride with eight million safety regulations built into it. So they made me get in line for the Tower of Terror. And sure enough, I got psyched out as we were walking through the creepy, elaborately decorated line. I was literally shaking, begging my parents to not make me do it. And when we got to the front of the line and sat down in the front row of the ride car, I had finally hit my limit. I put my head down and just started sobbing. The whole car of riders went silent and stared at me. Mom and dad knew that I didn't need to be there anymore. The cast member in charge leaned down and very gently said to me, My dear, I cannot start this ride if you are crying. And from the depths of my tormented soul, all I could say was one word. Good! I was let off the ride, much to my relief. And it wasn't until I turned 13 that I finally faced the Tower of Terror. As a child, I feared you, but I am a child no longer. Question for all of you. Did a certain movie or TV show really scare you as a kid, but then become your favorite when you got older? Because that totally happened with me. Like, Alice in Wonderland really freaked me out as a kid. Especially the Cheshire Cat when he disappears that first time, leaving only his smile. Now, I am a sucker for anything Alice in Wonderland. Jurassic Park terrified me as a kid, and now it's my favorite live-action movie. I don't know, maybe we all eventually become fascinated by the things that scared us as kids. Or maybe we all stay traumatized. After all, what is adulthood but a constant state of dealing with past trauma? But you know what? I'm gonna go on record and say that I think a little bit of fear is healthy for kids. Because if we never get scared, how can we learn to be brave? So maybe the balloons and theme park rides and creepy grinning cats of your past taught you a lot more than you think. I'm here! Lottie? Well, what are you doing here? I called Tom for help! Well, you see, Tom realized he's, you know, in London. So he called Jaden's to ask her to do it. But she was busy, so she called James. Who called Emirichu, who called CipherTed, but she couldn't make it because she's in New York. So Ted called Tabs, who called Illymation, who called Riverside Invader, and I just happened to be in the area, so he called me, and here I am! Well, I mean, I did move out into the woods in the middle of nowhere. What else did I expect? Yeah, I so wish all of you! Well, thank you for coming all the way out here, Lottie. You think you can help me down? You know, we are toons. You can survive the fall if you just jump down. I don't want to jump down, it's scary! Face your fears, Rebecca! Lottie, no! No, no, no! Don't do it, Lottie! Please! No, no! Not Lottie! No! Sit! Stay! Do not- Anything else I can do for- You got it! Thank you so much for tuning in, but now we gotta toon out! Bye! No problem. I'll be there in a flash. Bye-bye. Wait a minute. Aw, jeez. That's quite far away. I probably won't be there in a minute. Let me know if those are all good, and if they're not, I'll be crushed. I will be despondent. Yeah.