This was originally for my blog but I thought at least some of you would be interested in this. I don't know how long I'll post these for; we'll just have to see what happens! The theme for this set of prompts (and possibly future sets of prompts) is fear. The goal of these prompts is to explore and get to know your fear. Why? So that you can learn to control it instead of it controlling you.

You may put your writing excerpts in a reply. While I wish I could garuntee you only positive and encouraging comments, I do not have control over the comments here as I do on my blog. I'm sure most posters here will be only positive and encouraging-- I really, really hope!!-- but there's always that small chance someone won't be.

If you plan on writing for these prompts-- even if you don't share excerpts-- please let us know! It's encouraging to hear that others are on a similar journey as our own.

I will share this much tonight: I have a phobia that began to entirely take over my life, making me miserable and hopeless. I've been learning how to deal with it and learn to control it instead of being controlled. I haven't by any means defeated it (nor am I an expert) but I'd be happy to talk with you here/in a chat thread if you would like. I'm still on my journey and I believe in all of you! :)

the 5th -- What is your biggest fear or phobia? Look at the definitions of "fear" and "phobia" and decide which of those your fear fits into best.

What is the name of your fear/phobia? Both the name you know it by and the official name that others would recognize it by or a professional would call it. (You might need to use the internet to search around for this if you don't already know what your fear/phobia is called.)

the 6th -- What triggers the fear/phobia? What makes you think of it again and causes a reaction? It could be something you see, a smell, a sound-- any of your senses. List some times it really caught you off guard.

the 7th -- What happens when your fear/phobia is triggered? Does it affect you physically? If so, describe exactly what happens. What are your thoughts during this time? How do you try to protect yourself from it? How does it feel?

the 8th -- How does this fear/phobia affect your life? Are there things you avoid because of it? Situations you don't put yourself in because there might be triggers? Things or events you miss out on or lost because of it?

the 9th -- What does your fear/phobia look like? If it were a person or creature, what would that person or creature be? You could draw it or describe it in words. Give it a personality.

the 10th -- What is your first memory of the fear/phobia? When do you remember first experiencing it? Do you remember the surrounding events? How old were you? How did others react? How has your fear/phobia changed since that time?

the 11th -- Who do you hide it from and why? Does anyone know about this? Describe why you told them or how they found out. Who doesn't know? Why haven't you told them/how have you kept them from finding out?

the 12th -- If your fear/phobia was suddenly gone, how would you feel? How would you react when you found out? What is the first thing you would do? How would you celebrate? Would you tell anyone? If so, who?

I should probably do this... 

Can't figure out the difference between a phobia and fear, but I'm just going to guess mine is a fear? I sorta have to overcome my fear to post this, but... here goes.

 I'd call it a fear of rejection, someone I love pushing me away. Coupled with a fear that I have a negative affect on on others. I think scientifically this is Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, but that doesn't sound exactly like me. Close, though. 

Bracha: welcome to the thread! I wish you luck in your journey and know that you'll be able to work through it. :)

-A NOTE ON FEAR VS. PHOBIA-

It occured to me that it would've been helpful for me to include this in my orignal post!

Fear and phobia are closely related. I guess the way I would explain it would be this: phobias are almost constant. Someone with a phobia will be always checking out their surroundings and situations to figure out ways of avoiding it. If you have a phobia of an earthquake, for example, it'll probably be constantly on your mind. A fear of an earthquake might show itself when there's predictions of one or something like that.

A phobia is very intense and also affects your quality of life or abilities to function.

I wanted to explain a little about why I chose each of them and how you can use your answers to help control your fear/phobia.

the 5th -- I asked you to name your fear with the name you know it by, the name others would know it by, and the name a professional might call it.

I asked this to prompt a little research. When I began really struggling with my phobia, it felt lonely. I figured I was the only one who dealt with it and I didn't really know that it had a name.

In my opinion, knowing something's name helps you to better picture and solidify it. It takes away some of that "I'm the only one" and "maybe I just made it up."

If you tried to find a scientific name for your fear or phobia and couldn't find one, I'd invite you to create one. Add "phobia" or a suffix for fear/hatred onto the end of the object or situation you fear.

Even if you couldn't find a name for it, that doesn't mean you made it up or you're theonly one-- it just means that the fear is trying reeeeally hard to keep you from pinning it down. It means that the others dealing with it are struggling just as much as you are.

the 6th -- This day's prompt was to write what triggers your fear or phobia. This means you can possibly start to predict when you'll have a reaction, cutting back on some of the surprise and possibly helping you to decrease the severity of the reaction when it comes to that.

It's also another step in pinning down the fear. The fear becomes less of a dark, shapeless, vague cloud and more of a solid picture. It starts to take shape and you can realize that gathering this information is giving you materials to build a weapon against the fear.

the 7th -- On this day I asked what happens when you encounter a trigger. In other words, your reaction to the trigger and thoughts that accompany it.

I use this with my own phobia when I start a reaction. I can identify what triggered the reaction (see prompt for the 6th) and know where my reaction is going next. If you know that your reaction starts with breathlessness and escalates to panicked, rapid breathing, you can be prepared for that and counter it with slow, purposeful breathing.(You can't panic when you're doing deep breathing!)

the 8th -- How does this fear/phobia affect your life? You might know, for instance, that going to a certain place or doing a certain activity sometimes triggers you, so you avoid it entirely-- even if there's fun to be had in those situations.

Some fears might include eating less/not at all, causing you to feel weak, tired, and incapable. Some fears might draw you away from people you love or care about.

And there might be multiple ways the fear affects you. Name them all and continue to pin down the fear!

I don't know my fear. I have very rational fears though. Like, I'm not scared of snakes, but what I'm scared of is getting bitten by one. Not scared of spiders. I can squash those if need be.

Looks like none of my posts are going through....

Bracha: ugh, can’t stand when that happens .-. 

I'm gonna try this one last time.

I think at the bottom of all my fears is fear of hurting others, so in short, this gets triggered when I think I hurt someone or did the wrong thing, or in some cases, didn't do anything when I should've said something. Sometimes this is rational, sometimes it's not. 

poke

I’ll share a little about my phobia. I missed all the rest of the prompts but I’ll do today’s.

also, I’ll tryyyyy to put up more soon... 

If your fear/phobia was suddenly gone, how would you feel?

I wouldn’t have to constantly be on guard to “protect myself.” It would feel so good to sit down for a meal and just eat instead of analyzing what or how much I’m eating. I’d also be able to try new foods, try going on a rollercoaster again. It would take stress out of my relationships.

Fine, Phil, fine. I just... argh! There's no way to get revenge of Phiiilllll!

Yiiiikes, that's a tough fear. I'm just gonna go in order. SO the 8th. 

How does my fear affect my life?

I have  a hard time telling my friends about stuff I'm going through, so I just keep it bottled up inside, which makes me grumpy and irritable. Then one day I snap. It makes me feel alone, and it just festers inside me and gets bigger and worse, and once you mix in the self-hate, I'm a walking land mine.