Beating Bathophobia: How do you beat fears of the deep?

Bathophobia

If you aren’t scared of anything, are you even human? I have a few irrational fears, the kind that few people share and aren’t based on real explanations (like heights, drowning etc.) I am so disturbed by one of these fears, that I can’t mention it in case friends decide it would be funny to send me pictures of said creatures, my other is bathophobia.

Bathophobia; is a fear of unknown depths. (Not a fear of baths.) Places of utter blackness deep beneath the world, and my particular phobia relates to water too. I often get bad dreams about the vastness of the sea and rivers that defy gravity and surround me. I’d promised myself I’d address this fear and so this week when going on a trip to the Peak District I decided to face my fear!

Bathophobia Fear of Depths Candlelit Caves

So how do you feel about that?

When encountering these deep recesses of the earth, I feel a huge dread. It’s like being dunked in ice and I feel the pressure rise in my chest. Just y’know that standard panicked feeling – mostly I just look away and avoid it where possible. Heck, it’s a surprise that I love space so much. (Although I do find it overwhelming if I think too much about the vast nothingness!)

 

Bathophobia
Smiling before the real panic set in (I couldn’t see that water at this point!)

 

I’d been in many caves before and many of them got me slightly nervous but because of how commercialised and well lit most caves are I didn’t get too scared – whenever there was a cave without an end or an underwater river I averted my eyes and stayed well away! This time I braved the two things I hated most – deep, dark caves and underground rivers.

The fear that Bathophobia built

As I approached the cave entrance I got super nervous – 100 steps down to the base of the cave where a boat would take us through a tunnel to an underground cavern to meet “The Bottomless Pit”. Holy effing eff. I was scared. Sweating (not just because of the stairs), panicking, going into my happy place… I clung to my partner for dear life.

We boarded the boat and I felt very wary of how much it was shaking back and forth, but the tunnel was too narrow for it to capsize which made me feel a little better. When facing your fears, you must think of the worst case scenario and then disprove it! When we had arrived at the other side (I went into my mind palace for most of the journey) my fiance encouraged me to look down into the “bottomless” river.

Bathophobia

So did I conquer my fear?

Many of you may know, conquering fears isn’t black and white. I still don’t think I could go caving yet and swimming in the open sea is probably a long way off. But by the end of the trip I learned to manage my stress reactions, allowed myself time to look and address the things that made me so scared and just learned to breathe.

I think without my OH’s help I wouldn’t have even got on the boat. I’d say it’s so important to have someone you trust help you through your fears, they’ll intervene when you freak out!

A note to end…

You may have mentioned I also dropped the word fiancé into my post. He faced one of his fears, and finally got the courage to ask me to marry him – and I said yes! Eek! When you have someone who can embrace all you are but at the same time makes you want to try to face your fears (and generally be a better person), then you know that they’re the one!

4 Comments

  1. andthenzen
    19th September 2017

    Congratulations on taking the first steps to properly address your fear, it’s always a ‘one step at a time’ thing! I have an irrational and entirely unexplained fear of big lorry wheels.. ????????‍♀️ Congratulations also on getting engaged! ????

    Andi | http://www.andthenzen.co.uk

    1. Amy_Ether
      19th September 2017

      Thank you so much!
      I can see why you find lorry wheels scary! They can be quite intimidating if you get too close in the car!

  2. abbeylouisarose
    19th September 2017

    Awww congratulations on your engagement! It’s lovely that your new fiancé was there to support you whilst you battled your fear – well done for giving it a go! Like you say, it’s hard to assert that you’ve truly conquered any fear, but the fact that you had the guts to give this a go is brilliant! I faced one of my fears when I went scuba diving to a depth of 20m, I was terrified on the descent but when I made it, I was so happy and I would do it again!

    Abbey ???? http://www.abbeylouisarose.co.uk

  3. […] 21. Take steps to get over one of my (many) irrational fears – DONE […]

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