Whether it’s walking up or down them, stairs are responsible for more swearing, grunting, and passive aggressive muttering than all of the sports games you’ve placed wagers on, all of those horrible bosses that you’ve encountered, and all of the oddly specific blog posts you’ve read combined. Having a Fear of Stairs largely stems from the idea that in order to get from one point to another stairs must be interacted with. Prior to stairs, the Earth was considered to be flat. Look how far we’ve come now! If you’re ready to start learning about a Fear you did/didn’t know you had, there’s no better place to start than the next paragraph!
Spiraling Through a Fear of Stairs
The original design concept of stairs was to help people move both up and down levels of homes and buildings. This has remained largely unchanged. Stairs allow people to avoid the need to jump to a ledge and pull themselves up or relying on plummeting to reach a lower point. In many ways, stairs are beneficial to people around the world. Then again, the same can be said about elevators too and I think we all know how that experiment has panned out. Fact: more people trip going up a flight of stairs than down. While this not only proves gravity is not a real thing, it also results in shin bruises which may be the worst injury ever created. However, the threat of slipping down 40 stairs remains an active concern for many people who have to face stairs on a regular basis. Not to mention making it to the top of stairs sounds great until you look down and realize how high up you really are. That’s a Fear in itself.
While not always a requirement in order to function, stairs are often made of harder materials such as cement, wood, or metal. Seldom are stairs created with foam or even a cotton/polyester blend. While some stairs may move in a straight line or otherwise conventional direction, many stairs spiral into a seemingly unnecessary oblivion. The chosen material, height, and design increases the likelihood of slips, trips, stumbles, bumbles, and various other fall-related rhyming words. This also increases the reasoning for where a Fear of Stairs can originate. Stairs are literally the reason why railings (or bannisters if you’re that kind of person) exist. Someone literally had to design a way to offer a lifeline for people to grip onto in order to even use stairs. Thankfully, some time in the early 2000s, this concept was created. Give or take a century or five.
Climbing Your Fear of Stairs
Did you know Fear of Stairs is called Bathmophobia? Of course not. Who would possibly know that? But now you do and you’re so welcome. Fortunately, like so many other Fears, there are ways to overcome them! You can do things like replace stairs with ramps. Or just uproot your entire life and move somewhere flat. Or you can climb one stair per day until you make it to the top. Granted, this strategy works best with four or five steps, not 300 floors to climb. What’s nice about stairs is you can physically see the accomplishment of starting from the bottom and now you’re here. This is different than having a Fear of Slender Man because who knows what might happen if you try to face him. Another great way to combat your Fear of Stairs is to Like & Share this Things I Fear post on your favourite Social Media platforms. I’ve heard that’s a great way to beat multiple Fears, actually. You should definitely try that. Tell your friends. Then you’ll be climbing stairs together until the cows come home.
