Fear is an “unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm”.
Such emotion is innate and is highly vital to a human being for his survival to defeat or escape legitimate threats.
Upon the fateful meeting of a sabre-toothed tiger (which probably did not go “meow”), fear, is a mechanism proved useful to the survival of our proverbial ancestors to fight or take flight and thus birthing a charming and intelligent bunch of well-refined homosapiens that we are.
But, just as any mechanism has it strengths, some may go off-the-rail and become irrational, evolving into a term known as ‘phobia’.
A phobia is the sensation of extreme fear “when it is not justified by the presence of any real danger or threat, or by any rational cause.”
However, there are many reasons why people fear and hence phobias should not be dismissed as irrational.
One of the best treatments to conquer phobias is also known as ‘exposure-therapy’. By confronting the fear face on, one can condition himself to become desensitised to it.
Here is a list of common phobias,
- Claustrophobia: The fear of small spaces
Our inflated bubble suits not only protects you from injury while you collide and bounce against your mates, it trains you to be in a space of your own to conquer your fears.
- Anthropophobia: the fear of people
Unfortunately for the phobics, bubble soccer is a team game thus by engaging in it, you would have no choice but to interact with them. But hey, I’m pretty sure they don’t bite!
- Trypophobia: the fear of holes
Phobics who have an aversion to all things with holes, let’s face our fears and place ourselves in it instead!
- Sfairesphobia: the fear of balls
Some people are afraid of balls solely for the reason of getting hurt by them. On the contrary, our bubble suits keep you from getting injured itself. I’m convinced that after a game of bubble soccer, you’ll want to embrace it instead of heading the other direction!
- Anthlimataphobia: fear of sports
Bubble soccer ain’t all about the fitness and exercise routines. Have a whale of a time rolling on the floor and bouncing off each other too. Wouldn’t that be great if rolling was an olympic sport?!
In all seriousness, if you are in tremendous distress over your phobia, seek help. Reach out to someone whom you can trust to talk about your anxieties. Often enough, just rationalising your fears and recognising them as extreme can help you to conquer them over time.
This article was written by Clara Ng, [email protected]