If you met me, you wouldn't expect me to be the type of person with contamination fears. I'm not particularly neat, I'm not squeamish at all about things like eating raw eggs, and public restrooms really don't bother me.
I do have one contamination fear, though, and it's a weird one: Rabies. It's frustrating because I really love animals, but this obsession makes me 1) avoid touching animals I don't know or 2) feel very uncomfortable when I force myself to.
I distinctly remember not being afraid of rabies two years ago, but something happened. I can't really remember a specific event, but all of a sudden it became something I got concerned about whenever coming into contact with animals. At the height of my rabies phobia, I was looking daily for a cat that had scratched me to make sure it hadn't come down with rabies. I know, that's a weird compulsion.
Today, it resurfaced a bit. I was running with my neighbor's dog and a little dog charged out and started attacking my neighbor's dog. A fat woman came out and called her little dog back over. I don't know if any biting took place--it all happened so fast.
But now I am practicing avoidance and having a hard time convincing myself not to. My neighbor's dog may be rubbing rabies all over my couch right now, she might give it my cat, and she's even touching my elbow. I know I really should just rub my hands all over the dog and not worry about it, but I skin-picked by pinky and it's a little bit raw and I don't want to get rabies on that finger.
Okay! I'm going to be good. Exposure time!
I do have one contamination fear, though, and it's a weird one: Rabies. It's frustrating because I really love animals, but this obsession makes me 1) avoid touching animals I don't know or 2) feel very uncomfortable when I force myself to.
I distinctly remember not being afraid of rabies two years ago, but something happened. I can't really remember a specific event, but all of a sudden it became something I got concerned about whenever coming into contact with animals. At the height of my rabies phobia, I was looking daily for a cat that had scratched me to make sure it hadn't come down with rabies. I know, that's a weird compulsion.
Today, it resurfaced a bit. I was running with my neighbor's dog and a little dog charged out and started attacking my neighbor's dog. A fat woman came out and called her little dog back over. I don't know if any biting took place--it all happened so fast.
But now I am practicing avoidance and having a hard time convincing myself not to. My neighbor's dog may be rubbing rabies all over my couch right now, she might give it my cat, and she's even touching my elbow. I know I really should just rub my hands all over the dog and not worry about it, but I skin-picked by pinky and it's a little bit raw and I don't want to get rabies on that finger.
Okay! I'm going to be good. Exposure time!
aww girl sorry you are dealing with this! must be annoying
ReplyDelete