Day 58: Face your Fears

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." FDR

Almost four years ago to the day my sisters and I had a "Fear" Party. We all sat around the kitchen table and wrote down everything we were afraid of. Then we went around the circle and read them aloud and committed to overcoming them so that we could all live our lives without fear. I wrote down 25 things, and have crossed off 15 so far. Not too bad. But before I'm ready to get married, I have some fears I need to conquer (Like #3. Getting Married). But seriously, I think learning to go forward with faith is a must before committing your life to one person for eternity, right?

I've always had issues with elevators, and lately that "issue" has grown a bit more since I saw the trailer for the new M. Night Shyamalan's "Devil", where five people get stuck in an elevator with a devil. It looks so creepy. Sometimes when I ride in the elevator, it reminds me of it.

Today I got on at the tenth floor, ready to go home. On the eighth floor, a young Asian guy got on and he did a double take, then blatantly stared at me. I kept glancing at him, thinking, "What is your problem??" Well, he hurriedly apologized saying,"I'm so sorry, it's just that you look just like an ex-coworker of mine. I was just thinking, 'What? She's back from the dead?!' " Then he laughed and got off at the sixth floor. Weird.

Well, not half as weird as what happened next. Out of no where, the elevator shuddered strongly and stopped on the third floor. I kept pushing the first floor button, but it wouldn't move. So I pushed the door open button. Nothing. (Did I mention my phone died earlier so I had no form of communication?) [Insert eerie music here]. Out of nowhere it started moving down again. Phew. Safe.

Well not safe, because after another jarring stop on the first floor, it once again refused to let me out. This was getting serious. (Is anyone at this point thinking what I was thinking? Well, if you're thinking my elevator was broken, that wouldn't have matched my thoughts. If you're thinking my elevator was possessed by the spirit of my twin, the dead co-worker, then you and I have the same brain). So I frantically started pushing the "open door" button. It refused. Then I started moving up a bit, then down a bit (If now you're thinking that sounds like fun, like a ride at Disneyland, that is where our thinking parts ways...it was not as fun as it sounds).

It kept going up slowly, and I was sure it was going to plummet me to a horrible, painful death (Okay, that does sound like that one ride at Disneyland). Then it stopped. It waited. The doors opened. This girl looked like she was about to get out and I screamed and pushed her out of the way, saying "Don't get on there!! Save yourself!" We waited for the next non-possessed elevator and had a pleasant, uneventful ride to the bottom.

I WILL ride in an elevator tomorrow and conquer my fears (okay, but probably not that same elevator)...and maybe dealing with this fear will get me one step closer to dealing with #3.