Cleithrophobia

Cleithrophobia, Cleithrophobia, Cleithrophobia!!
I, Kayla, have this phobia. Well, the closest thing i can find to what i'm actually fearful of. The problem is, this phobia actually has some cruel irony.

This phobia, Cleithrophobia, is the fear of being locked in an enclosed space, but that's not really what i'm fearful of. I'm afraid of putting on a seat belt, or securing device, and it malfunctioning, and not releasing when i want to get out. Like a seatbelt, in a car, you put it on, and the entire ride, i'll be worrying about when the car stops and i hit that stupid red button, it won't release. Or when i'm at an amusement park, and i'm riding a roller coaster, and you pull down the harness and it locks into place, when the ride is over, the harness won't release. Or, when your on a ride and then have those lap bars, where you push down and they lock, and then you have to push down and then pull up for them to release. My sister thinks it's hilarious to push it so far down, that you can't push down for the goddamn bar to release and it freaks the hell out of me.

This phobia all started when i was four years old my family and i went to visit our friends and spend the week with them at their house. I locked the bathroom door, to you know, go to the bathroom, did my business, flushed the toilet, and preceded to wash my hands. I dried them and went to get out of the bathroom, and the lock wouldn't unlock. I was stuck in that bathroom for four hours, crying and pounding on the bathroom door, before any one noticed that i was missing. They couldn't get the lock unlocked with the key, so they had to unscrew the door handle and take off the door knob, and let me out that way. I was stuck in the bathroom for five hours. This also led to my claustophobia, i believe.

Anways, so my fear of being stuck in locked positions was created. Here's the embarassing situation about it. Well, my fear of locks isn't with just doors, but with any thing that has a lock. I was at the state fair with my family and i really had to go to, (dramatic pause) the bathroom!!! So, my father took me to the porta potties and me, being mortafied about locks, decided that i wasn't going to lock the door (key info, i was like nine). Some extremely nice looking teenage boy opened the door to see my peeing in the porta potty. His face expression looked something like this (pretend this is a hot teenage dude):















So yeah, i was so embarrassed, and i got finished doing whatever i was doing, and left the porta potty, and my dad was rolling on the ground laughing so hard. So, i'm pretty sure that phobias destroy your life. Just an FYI.

The irony of my entire phobia thing is this: If i don't buckle up, i will die or get hurt, but if i do buckle up, i'm so scared that it won't unlock, and i spend my entire time freaking out about it, that i don't have any fun because i'm worrying about it. I haven't enjoyed a ride for years because i freak out about it, and even in cars, i worry that the seat belt is going to unlock. So moral of the story, i don't know. I can't tell which is worse.