Was I afraid of people as a child?
Written on 27th Sep 2021 by Alex Lowery
As a child, there were some people I just didn’t like but wouldn’t be able to identify the reason why. Some people would scare me more than others. Even some people that were very nice and kind would frighten me. I would sometimes be afraid of people that wore glasses or had a long nose or high forehead. I would also become frightened of people I wasn’t familiar with. If you’ve seen the film ‘Home Alone’, you might remember how Kevin gets really scared and runs away whenever he sees this thin old man with a white beard (I’m not meaning Santa Clause by the way). This is how I also saw many people in those days. I would become scared and really want to avoid them.
I remember when I used to have swimming lessons, there was a lady in the pool who taught me how to swim. The same lady would be there every week and I learned to get used to this same routine. However, one week she couldn’t make it so a man was there instead. This made me very anxious and afraid to go into the pool. It was a change and I wasn’t comfortable with change nor was I comfortable with someone I wasn’t familiar with.
I also remember when I went to school and Sunday School, when a new helper came I didn’t know so well, I would be very shy and nervous particularly if they had unusual physical features. I also remember being frightened of a boy in school who had a disfigured hand and other kids in the school as well.
Believe it or not: even some family members I didn’t really like as a child. My dad would sometimes scare me because he was a very loud person. His whole personality and everything he did was loud. As a child, I found it frightening due to my heightened senses. When I was young I used to cuddle my mum but I didn’t do the same with my dad.
For reasons I don’t even know how to explain, I really didn’t like my big sister as a young child either. I remember I didn’t even like taking a drink from her because the thought of holding a cup that she had held made me really uncomfortable. I know it sounds horrible and I don’t even know what I had against her either but I am being honest here. Thankfully this did improve as I got older. Most people don’t scare me so much now.
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