A phobia is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of something. For example, acrophobia, sometimes referred to as altophobia, is a fear of heights.

I have acrophobia thanks to my older brother, Charlie. As boys, we climb atop a small storage building in our back yard. As a joke, Charlie pushed me off the roof. I wasn’t hurt by the fall, but I’ve had acrophobia ever since.

Whenever I am close to the edge of an observation tower, a balcony, or other high place open to the ground below, I fear that Charlie is sneaking up behind me ready to give me a push.

I know it’s irrational, but I blame Charlie for my irrational thoughts and fear of heights.

Claustrophobia is the fear of confined spaces. My brother is to blame for this fear of mine, also. One day Charlie decided to throw me on the floor in our shared bedroom. But, that wasn’t enough for him, he grabbed the mattress off my bed and threw it on top of me.

Then, he decided to jump up and down on the mattress with me underneath. This was great “fun” for him, but terrifying for a small, persecuted little boy like me. I’ve been afraid of confined spaces ever since.

When I was in high school, several of my friends and I decided to explore a cave. Called speleology or spelunking, I was fine with it until my friends wanted to explore the smaller caves where we had to get down on our hands and knees. I declined to go any farther.

Actually, I howled like a coyote in protest. My friends never took me on their spelunking adventures anymore. Again, I blame Charlie.

Finally, I think I may have aichmophobia, which is a fear of needles or pointed objects. Belonephobia is a related phobia. I’m not sure if I can directly blame my brother Charlie for this one, but what the heck, it’s his fault!

I hate needles. Whenever I go to the dentist I beg him not to find any more cavities, because cavities mean more jaw numbing shots which I hate.

Come to think of it, my fear of needles may have come from all those vaccinations I received as a child. Hum, I’m sure my mother made me take all those shots. Maybe I could blame her for my aichmophobia? Sorry mom.

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