A wild ride through the fear complex: (A short story)

We took short pensive steps towards the chain swing while contemplating a ride, we were in a park and we had seen every other thing but somehow left this for the last. Me and my partner had been a few meters away for some minutes while we watched people ride the chain swing and the swinging pirate ship in pure excitement. I had been in one of those as a kid but couldn't totally remember the feeling. Now as an adult who is scared of fast moving rides and experiences spontaneous motion sickness when in fast moving suspended carriages, I thought I had to try either of the two rides at the park just to see the worst that could happen.

I mean, it's not even as dangerous as this

Taking a sit in one of the swing seats while figuring out the belts, I glanced over a few seats away at my partner, I tried to mimic her smile even though I felt a bit tensed. The tension started building up but not so much till the ride began to gain speed. I had my phone in my hand trying to take a picture of her but was quick to keep it as the swing gained momentum fast. A few seconds in with my eyes totally shut, I could hear her screaming, asking the operator to stop the ride, I was already feeling dizzy and was ever so grateful when the ride came to a halt. For those few seconds, they felt like an hour, and I thought I was going to swing off the hinge, it was terrifying for no reason whatsoever.

We got off the ride while I walked away feeling a little bit nauseous, we were going to try something different. A few minutes later, I was holding a protective metal bar with a firm grip while the pirate ship ride swinged wildly, it felt like it would come off the hinge, my partner was grabbing widely at me and screaming while I smiled, trying to pretend to be the man, look, I figured out if the hinge didn't come off after all these years, then it's unlikely to come off now. Phobias triggered by non-fatal events should be easy to dismiss once you take your time to relax and think about it. We were in a swinging carriage which out of fear, we expect would run off its axis and unhook its hinges, but in reality, it has always worked and never crashed. reflecting on this reality really helped overcome my fearful expectations and it turned out to be a great ride. We smiled as we stepped out and watched a few new fellows screaming all the way as the ride began it's wild swing again.

With the new realization, we would be in the chain swing again a few minutes later, with me leading the way, the swing started gaining momentum gradually, I closed my eyes to avoid motion sickness while I chatted with the next seat neighbor at high pitch, there was no terror now as I knew the seat would never unhook and spin out of control. I went on about two more round and ended up dizzy and bedridden for two days while waiting to recover from a crazy migraine with a hint of nausea.

Reminiscing on the event, I couldn't understand the source of the fear. Now my belief is that any non-fatal event or activity should never trigger any form of fear within us. When reality and hard data inspires confidence in us more than our personal expectations, we should always stand with reality and data. Now, I have heard and know that sky diving accidents are very rare, maybe this should be my next target.