As a child, I was truly afraid of the dark and of getting lost; these fears were very real and 1 me some uncomfortable moments.
Maybe it was strange that things in my room often frightened me at night. There was never total darkness, but a streetlight or passing car lights2 clothes hung over a chair take on the3 of a wild animal. Out of the cormner of my eye, I saw the curtains seem to move when there was no4 . A tiny sound in the floor would seem a hundred times5 than in the daylight. My imagination would6 wild, and my heart would beat fast. I would lie very still so that the "enemy" would not discover me.
Another of my childhood fears was that I would get lost,7 on the way home from school. Every morning I got on the school bus right near my home. That was no8 . But after school, when all the buses were9 up along the street, I was afraid that I'd get on the wrong one and be taken to some10 neighborhood. On school or family trips to a park or a museum, I wouldn't let the leaders out of my11 .
Perhaps one of the worst fears of all I had as a child was that of not being liked or12 by others. Being popular was so important to me13 and the fear of not being liked was a powerful one.
One of the processes of growing up is being able to recognize and14 our fears.
Understanding the things that frightened us as children helps us15 greater success later in life.
