Who else here /AfraidoftheDark/?
Maybe I'm a pussy or maybe it's just natural instinct, but I definitely feel incredibly uncomfortable alone in the dark. When walking up my stairs at night I can't help but feel a eerie chill come over me and my mind wanders to frightening places.
I'm an adult, a big guy thanks to this community and I rationally know I have nothing to fear, and yet this creeping feeling still comes over me.
I suppose it's not paranormal by nature, but maybe you guys have some insight into it.
Has it always been like this?
It's a natural reaction. Darkness = unknown, uncertainty. Early man definitely had good reason to stay out of the dark.
It's funny how we can recognize our instincts like that, but you can't always control them. I am still most especially uncomfortable around windows at night. I always fear that something or someone will pop up out of the night's shadows.
And even with the conveniences of modern society, where many people can lock themselves tightly away in their own "castles," there is still some reason to be concerned. It's a pretty big planet, there's a lot of things we don't know or understand. All I will say is that my friend told me about a scratching at his front door, and looking over to see what looked like a pale...thing through the front door's window, just before it ducked down out of sight. I have seen some strange things from time to time as well.
tl;dr = don't be scared, but do be careful
>>17772078
For sure!
At times I've fought against and it found myself sort of actively willing myself into a mental state of strength, but that has always taken work and never come naturally.
>>17772049
As an adult, I always get real comfy in the dark, especially if it's pitch black, I get a feeling of safety, just being enveloped by darkness like some sort of protecting invisibility cloak. I always thought of this as a natural instinct, as when it's real dark no predator can see and eat you.
But I remember I was afraid of the dark as a child with wild imagination. I always imagined scary skeletons and shit hiding in the dark, out there to hurt me. But I had a trick against those scary fucks: I "borrowed" a lighter from my parents and pretended it to be a fireball throwing weapon that would blow up the scary monsters, to the point where I would happily go monster hunting in the dark with my little flamethrower. Try it OP :)
>>17772049
for some reason it's the complete oposite for me.
Whenever I want to calm down and relax I have to close all the lights and blinds.
Probably have defective survival instincs or something idk.
me too somewhat
however sleeping with another person eliminates this fear
>>17772133
This
I love absolutely darkness, I relax and unwind in it.
I also live in AZ though and while drinking a few on the lake in the sun is cool as shit the sun sucks so I sorta have a reason for wanting to be in the dark.
>>17772090
>I am still most especially uncomfortable around windows at night
The patio doors at my place are scary as fuck when its dark.
>>17772049
For me, it's not darkness in general...it's walking away/facing away from darkness.
The example you gave of the stairs is a perfect one. When heading up to my bedroom to sleep I was often the last up the stairs for the evening, so I had to turn off all the lights before heading up. I am not ashamed to say I clambered up those steps as fast as I could. And heaven forbid I have to return to check if all the doors are locked. I've done that once, to find I had forgotten to lock one. Nothing came in, but seeing that unlocked just....
Something about knowingly turning your back on an area that could harbor something I cannot see still bothers me. I still never place my bed facing away from windows, and I try my best to do the same with other furniture.
But my apartment's on the third floor and my computer chair sits with its back to a window. e have trees outside that sometimes scritch the windows at night, and even today as a grown-ass man it makes my skin crawl.
I'm just going to admit that I still sleep with a nightlight. I once pissed on my bedroom floor because my dad had turned the landing light off.
Honestly, I only get uncomfortable when inside in the dark. Especially when everything's turned off.
There's just something unsettling about the silence and the stillness of the air. It almost feels as though time has stopped. Anyone else feel like that?
>>17772200
I only get that way in absolute silence.
I find complete silence unsettling as hell.
My head also starts generating some sort of mental white noise if I'm in complete silence for too long and it drives me crazy.
Most pussy thread ive ever seen. I am with you bros.
I struggle with it because its off and on.
Most days I'm almost unnaturally comfortable in the darkness. Either laying around inside, getting laundry and stuff from the basement, or even exploring outside or in the woods.
But rarely for seemingly no reason I just get this intense paranoia about it, especially turning my back to a dark place.
It's usually in the early morning but there have been a couple times I've come home super late and gotten it. Maybe being tired triggers it? Like you're more paranoid when tired as a defense mechanism because otherwise you'd be less alert?
>>17772281
It's definitely a weird headspace that prompts a lot of mine.
There are so many nights I wake up at like 2 AM, go sleep on my couch for 3 hours, then return to my room. It's pitch-black in my house when I do it, yet I don't even bat an eye. Normally I'd turn on lights, but not then.
Conversely, I woke up around that same time once and instinctually threw a pillow aggressively at the corner of my room. It took a few moments after I threw to realize I had thrown it as my laundry hamper, which I could see in the very dim light.
So it definitely depends.
>>17772049
I was for years. It only stopped after meeting a ghost and accepting my own greater path in life. Call it existentialism, call it crazy, but after you realize there's more to life than school college family death, you will not fear the dark.
Don't fear the spirits you meet, they retaliate because you pity, fear, and demonize them. Embrace them, know them, and accept them.
I sleep with the light on. I think it started out as hating the dark as a child but it became a habit that I never grew out of. If my gf sleeps over or if I sleep over at her places I will turn the light off tho
