[Lenovo]

I really had no idea where to post this, but here's the situation:

My girlfriend wants to go to someone's house for a get together tomorrow, and I have absolutely no problem with that at all, but she asked me to go, and that is where we have a problem. Its not the get together part. The thing is, as weird or crazy as it sounds, the host of this get together has ceiling fans, I am deathly terrified of ceiling fans, but only if they are on do I get freaked out. However, if the fans are turned off, everyone complains it gets too hot in their house, and would like the fans to be turned on, so majority rules. I kind of want to go, but there is the issue with the ceiling fan. So, do I say forget it, and tell my girlfriend to go without me? Or do I go, and stay out on the porch, and talk to people through the porch door?

[GlindaofOz]

Does your girlfriend know of your fear?

I have a friend who is deathly afraid of wind chimes/bells. She just serious panic attacks going to places she's never been because she's worried about wind chimes. If she goes with someplace and I know someone has wind chimes I call them before we arrive and say hey fyi she's scared to death could you please take them down.

See if your girlfriend might be able to confidentially call the host and see if they could maybe crank the ac in lieu of turning on the fans. Possibly even tell guests of sorry the fans are broken and place tape over their knobs.

[Lenovo]

Yeah, she knows, but I guess she just doesn't understand to how much I'm scared of them, (my cousin is the same way with wind chimes, the louder they chime, the more paniced she gets, wow, small world).

[Lenovo]

And the host doesn't have AC...

[GlindaofOz]

Oh jeez that's a tough spot. If you know that you may have a difficult time I'd say try to go and if its too much sit out on the porch with the "porch folks" as you said.

On another note - have you tried hypnotherapy or Energy Cleansing for your fear? My friend with the windchime fear has been working on her fear through energy cleansing. Its actually funny the office where its done hangs windchimes in the doorway so they clang when the door is open. She said she it was a sign to her that she was supposed to be there to be "fixed". Its worked pretty well so far.

[Lenovo]

Never even heard of either of those methods, wouldn't even know where to to begin. And what is Energy Cleansing?

[GlindaofOz]

Hypnotherapy is where they use hypnosis to figure out why you have this fear. This worked for another friend of mine who had a huge fear of people vomiting. After the hypnotherapy session she was over it.

Energy cleansing (or energy healing) may be a little too "out there" for some people. Basically, an energy healer will have you lie down and will read your chakras. They will then set about cleaning out all the bad. I can't really explain what they do. I've had it done and its amazing.

[Lenovo]

And, last time I was there, I kept my head low enough to where the fan was out of my "line of sight" so to speak, but I still had that fear in me, its like, someone holding a snake right directly behind you, you can't see it, but you know it's there, and so is the fear. The whole time, my leg was jumping faster a humming birds wings (when I was sitting), and I was physically unable to make it stop. The longer I was in the room, the faster I could feel my heart beating. Eventually after about an hour and a half, I finally got outside to the porch, and it took me THREE HOURS to finally "calm" myself down, I was all the way home, and was still working on calming myself down.

[Lenovo]

Well, I already KNOW why I have this fear, I've had it since I was like, 5 years old. The baby sitter put my head through my bedroom ceiling fan (accidently of coarse).

[GlindaofOz]

If there is no way around the ceiling fans I would recommend maybe sitting this one out and looking into some type of treatment for this fear. I've seen how debilitating these fears can be. I've seen my friend in tears, hyperventilating over the idea of a wind chime being some place. I really feel for your situation.

[GlindaofOz]

Well, I already KNOW why I have this fear, I've had it since I was like, 5 years old. The baby sitter put my head through my bedroom ceiling fan (accidently of coarse).

I'd say that's a well founded fear.

I would still recommend either treatment. I think you may find it really effective. Especially hypnotherapy. They can "plant" a message in your subconscious that will help you no longer have the fear.

[Lenovo]

k, well thanks for the advice.