It's going to drive me mad...

You pretty much explained me. Like I said in my first thread I ever did here I am terrified of the dark. I have been since I can remember and I'm 26 now.

Im not affraid to admit it to anyone. I had a few people call me a p***y but idc, I've been shot at, rockets and mortors raining down so close it fels like a punch to the chest, and had to ride down the most dangerous roads in iraq and I'm comfortable but the dark makes me so uncomfortable.

Like you said when in the darkness it feels like you are being hunted and something is stalking you. Its so bad once the sun goes down and I'm in my house I will always keep a flashlight next to me if it starts storming I keep one in my pocket just in case the power goes out.

But when I'm with other people in the dark I'm totaly fine.

The worst is when you are in a dark room and there's abig mirror in there, I'm terrified too look in its direction and out of the corner of my eye I will see something moving in the mirror. When I visited my sister the room I was had a huge mirror to the side of the bed, I had too cover it with a sheet.

So your not alone. More then half the guys in my unit feel like you and me. We had a guy that refuses to use his NODS because he swears he sees things walking around him that isn't there.

reply to post by johnwilkesbooth


Not at all. It's a common phenomenon.

When I was younger growing up a small kid I was afraid of the dark and always went to sleep with the light on and radio.
Then when I got a TV in my room I always left it on while I slept.
I remember some nights I swear down I could hear someone or something outside my window just humming or making some sort of noise, not like a melodic type hum but just constant deep "mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm" and I used to get so freaking scared I hid under the blanket and blocked my ears ,I never really had the guts to open the curtains and look so I used to hate sleeping in rooms with no curtains. I used to get the feeling someone was just standing there watching me.
But now things have changed. I can't stand sleeping with the light or TV on because I can't relax with it on and my bedroom doesn't even have curtains anymore. How I came over it I don't really know it just happened gradually over time
I know the feeling of being afraid of the dark. The feeling that some sort of entity is there watching you, the more you think about the worse it gets and it builds up so much that you have to turn the light on so you know no ones there.

The dark still scares me sometimes. I'll get flashes of things coming at me and it makes me scared, however, I keep going into the dark, because I know whatever it is, is only in my mind unless I allow it to be something outside of myself.

What I mean by that is these fears, the dark, not matter what you think, are just fears, and nothing can hurt you unless you trip over something or cause harm to yourself. I remember back when I used to play Zork, when you came into a dark place, with no light, it would tell you" It is dark in here, you are likely to be eaten by a Grue.

I still hear that sometimes when I go into a dark place.

You are not alone.

I just created an account after reading this topic that I've always been curious on, I see people mentioning that if you do not "feed" the fear aspect whether it's a dark shadow entity or just plain old fear of the dark by running away or hiding that it decreases its effect on you in both cases. Does anyone have thoughts or even experience with treating the aforementioned entity (if thats what it is) with outright hostility? I mean directly confronting or calling it out? I feel foolish for asking even but it is how I dealt with my similar fear of the dark a few years ago and I simply was no longer afraid of the dark afterwards.

I have been afraid of the dark all my childhood and sure something watched me (the worst thing was I couldn't see at the time!) then later, when I had vision (literally) I was still afraid and from time to time, even now at over half a century old, I still feel that way. I have ignored it, persuaded myself I was stupid, sang, and through sheer frustration, directly confronted it. It does go away, and often for very long periods but if you become fearful again because of a horror film or an event on the news it will try to come back.

I've even stood there saying "You haven't ever got me yet, so come on, do something or f... off!" It obliges and retires into oblivion! Fear is the trigger; get rid of that and you've cured your phobia. Good luck and my sympathy!

Thinking about it reminded me of this, a childhood memory:


but listen to the poem.

Muppet wisdom

Originally posted by johnwilkesbooth
reply to post by icepack

 

I'm Pagan!

Oh, okay. Is there anywhere in particular I could meet one who could tell me? I live in PA, USA. Kind of in the deep woods, I'm not around any big cities.

Send a U2U to Woodwitch or Druid42 - I'm sure they can give you some tips. I doubt you need your spirituality "checked" though. I think you just need to develop some techniques for dealing with the fear. I have found that when I am afraid in a dream, for example, I get the best results by confronting it, whatever it is. Like if I am running away from something, if I stop running away and run straight at it, I stop feeling afraid and it backs down.

I think what your Dad did was similar. Basically, you need to get ticked off at "it" for harrasing you and make up your mind that it needs to back off! When you are assertive, it will back down. This is a non-physical deal, so you will stand up to it in a non-physical way.

You might want to try some visualizations as well. When you are working alone and start feeling threatened or see something out of the corner of your eye, imagine a column of pure white light surrounding you. Send all the negative energy down and out the bottom of the column and pull positive energy in through the top and pouring in throught the top of your head, coursing through your body, swirling from your head down through your arms and hands, legs and toes, until you are filled with tingling positive energy. This sounds goofy if you have never tried it, but honestly, it is a pretty powerful defense technique. You can make the column as big as you need, so it can surround your body, or the room or area you are in, or an entire city block. It's up to you. It just takes a few minutes of concentration and you can continue working while you visualize.

One last suggestion - bring some rock salt or epsom salt and sprinkle it (outdoors) around the outside corners of the areas where you are feeling fearful. Take a small glass and fill it partway with the salt and put that in your room and/or on your desk. If anybody asks you can say itis a decoration. You can make it look more decorative by putting a little piece of driftwood or some dried flowers on top of the salt.

Good luck!
Gwynnhwyfar