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Yesterday I went to an amusement park. I really enjoyed it, of course.
But there was also something else interesting.
You see, I've gone there several times, over a long period of time. I remember going when I was much younger and bringing my friend, and how, inside a seemingly sinister and terrifying ride, she panicked and had to leave. The ride itself wasn't actually scary. It involved being spun around in a dark room, with strobe lights flashing. But because it wasn't visible to the outside, there was no need to paint it, so when we entered, it looked like a very dangerous thing, not something for kids. And I also remember very clearly being just as scared as she was, and thinking that I would never have been able to do something like that. I'd have sat there and wanted to leave and been terrified, but I would never have asked to leave. I saw the same thing happen with another girl, maybe even the same age, yesterday. She panicked, started crying, and had to get off before the ride started.
Anticipation is often worse than the real event. I see that happen a lot with my younger brother. He becomes worried something might be scared and starts to feel anxious. The anxiety feeds into itself and makes him more scared. If he's exposed to it, he recoils, feeling scared by the possibility of it, and then he becomes scared of the possibility of the possibility of it, and so on. When he was younger, he used to become scared he'd throw up. He'd sit for an hour crying harder and harder and choking himself and breathing hard and clenching his stomach, slowly making himself more and more nauseous, until finally he did throw up. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
(Although my brother obviously isn't the sort of person I can base general theories about people off, he's often very good for showing some extreme that's not so pronounced normally.)
So by avoiding the ride, the anxiety diminishes. Normally this is fine and the person can get over it at. The problem comes when the person becomes afraid of feeling anxiety and tries to avoid it, which causes the fear to grow until it expands into every corner of the person's life.
I don't know what relevance this may ever have, but I found it interesting none the less.
But there was also something else interesting.
You see, I've gone there several times, over a long period of time. I remember going when I was much younger and bringing my friend, and how, inside a seemingly sinister and terrifying ride, she panicked and had to leave. The ride itself wasn't actually scary. It involved being spun around in a dark room, with strobe lights flashing. But because it wasn't visible to the outside, there was no need to paint it, so when we entered, it looked like a very dangerous thing, not something for kids. And I also remember very clearly being just as scared as she was, and thinking that I would never have been able to do something like that. I'd have sat there and wanted to leave and been terrified, but I would never have asked to leave. I saw the same thing happen with another girl, maybe even the same age, yesterday. She panicked, started crying, and had to get off before the ride started.
Anticipation is often worse than the real event. I see that happen a lot with my younger brother. He becomes worried something might be scared and starts to feel anxious. The anxiety feeds into itself and makes him more scared. If he's exposed to it, he recoils, feeling scared by the possibility of it, and then he becomes scared of the possibility of the possibility of it, and so on. When he was younger, he used to become scared he'd throw up. He'd sit for an hour crying harder and harder and choking himself and breathing hard and clenching his stomach, slowly making himself more and more nauseous, until finally he did throw up. Self-fulfilling prophecy.
(Although my brother obviously isn't the sort of person I can base general theories about people off, he's often very good for showing some extreme that's not so pronounced normally.)
So by avoiding the ride, the anxiety diminishes. Normally this is fine and the person can get over it at. The problem comes when the person becomes afraid of feeling anxiety and tries to avoid it, which causes the fear to grow until it expands into every corner of the person's life.
I don't know what relevance this may ever have, but I found it interesting none the less.
