I'm afraid of the dark!

[lightningchuu]

This is so embarrassing. I am 17 years old, 17! I shouldn't be afraid of monsters under the bed and nonsense like that. I am so paranoid every night when I go to bed. I almost always feel like there is something right outside my window or sometimes in the room with me. I know there isn't, it's impossible but it never stops me from being scared. I have almost always been afraid of the dark. There has only be a couple of years since age 13 and now that I haven't been afraid of the dark. And it's so frustrating I can do little things to make it better like I have moved my bed next to the light switch before, and I kept the remote by me in case I want to flip on the T.V. if I get scared. But nothing really helps fix the problem. (and i don't do night lights. >.>)

Can anyone help me? I'm too old to have to deal with this.

[Sharonjoy]

To defeat a fear you must face the fear.
Sit up in the dark all night, and when you feel
that negative force around you take a deep breath
and stay focused on positive things. Do not open your mind
to this negative energy. I had felt that same feeling until
I turned 18 and I just turned that age about five months ago.
I sat up all night outside to defeat my fear, and yes it was
absolutely terrifying but dont open your eyes, just keep focused
on the positivity in your mind. Hopefully that helps you.
And you must do it it complete darkness with NO lights. It will leave.


If it hurts you, then I can help you rid
your home of the negative influence.

[lightningchuu]

Staying up all night outside? That sounds really scary! I can't even look out my window from inside! Sometimes I do think it's my fault I'm scared cause I just think too much about scary things! So I guess I'm letting the scary thoughts take control too easily so I really should try to fix that. -.o I dunno what getting rid of negative energy means.

[iMm0rTa1]

Your not the only one who is afraid ... im 14 and i have the same feeling i have mirror on my room and i cant look it ... i feel like something is always looking me , i wonder if theres way to go instantly to sleep . but the weirdest thing is when im thinking to scary stuff then i feel myself kinda evil ... like something is inside me ... really should need HELP! -- im getting creeped ot every night

[BlazeXploder]

I had a mirror that scared me. i took it down and smashed it in my garden. The bad luck never came.

With the dark, Do something like getting a headlamp nd sit in your bed. Set your alarm for half an hour after you usually get to sleep and put it under your pillow. Now sit ontop of your sheets with your headlamp off. Whenever your scared, pick something big and sharp up and investigated. You never find anything, and if you do this once a week you'll find nothing is there. and if you know nothings there then you can assume nothing will ever be there. thats how i conquered my fear. and if you find something that scares you, like a shadow on your wall, remove whatevers making the shadow.

Just keep working on it and you'll make it through. and remember, nothing can hurt oyu in your bedroom. Its your room. Ghosts dont exist. Zombies are implausible. Screams outside are drunk people or foxes. Creaks are normal. They SOUND like footsteps. They're not though. What could something that you cant see or hear do to you? The wind whistles anyway. Posters fall off the wall after a while. Gas Build-ups in the plumbing systems sometimes force open vavles in taps to turn them on. Windows or doors closing happen because of rapid air expansion and low pressure systems up above, even creaking can cause it. Even if a murder was perpitrated in your house, the murderer is locked away and the soul was innocent, they wouldnt want to stick around.

[Horserider92]

i was afraid of the dark until i was like 13 and we had a hurricane (well it passed by us but didn't hit us directly) and our power was out for like a week. i didn't really love sleeping with the candles on so i tried in the dark. ever since then i've slept in complete darkness

ps i was the girl that slept with five nightlights in her room and 10 stuffed animals! haha but now i sleep with three stuffed animals.. my dogs ate all the others.. what? i like to use them as back pillows haha

[Sharonjoy]

I dunno what getting rid of negative energy means.

Negative enegy would be the source or root of
"something" there. Maybe its old painful memories
that have gone unhealed inside your soul that have developed
into such a great negative energy that you cant
sleep a night. You have an energy that surrounds you at all
time this would be your aura. Sometimes when you don't
realize what it is thats making you feel negative you get
scared. Emotions that you feel the most sometimes go
unnoticed and you have no idea that you are feeling that way.
Do some soul searching and try to forget the bad and the pain,
remind yourself that it should't hurt anymore because its obvious that
you are okay now. =]


make sense?

[mickilee]

You're not too old. I'm 13 with the same problem. I have the same problem, and it is really frustrating to me too. What I do is pretty simple. I run into my room(because of the dark ), hide under the blanket (where I feel so much better) and think about everything that happens to me. I think of all my problems, simple things, memories, and I also start to think of what I should do for my future and what I should have done in the past. Just think of everything and anything, as long as it's not scary. After a while, you feel hot for staying under the blanket and you need some air. Just push the blanket off your face and lay your head against the pillow and keep thinking. You'll fall asleep sooner or later, unless you have my problem. I have a bad case of insomnia and it takes me hours to go to sleep. After a few hours I feel so frustrated that I can't sleep, that I don't even think of the dark.

Tip: While thinking, keep your eyes CLOSED.

[luvduv]

i used to feel the same thing...so as soon as i would get into bed i would close my eyes and think about positive things (boyfriend, friends, anything that makes me feel good) also, Do you live in a place by yourself?
if not then think about the other people in your house (mom and dad) it reassures you that your not by yourself and fills you with peace...another thing that could help is to think about god (if you believe in him) or a gaurdian angel watchimg over you to make sure you're alright....that's what helped me defeat the evil paranoid feeling.....oh and good if you don't use a nightlight...it makes everything worse actually because then you HAVE to see evrything around you and it can make you even more paranoid....at least in total darkness you don't have to look at the things that could be bothering you

[Nostalgic]

LOL, don't worry I am 28 and if I have watched a scary film, I am also still scared of the dark.

I hide all my body under the blankets just in case the "Biggie man" grabs my limbs"
I just tell myself I am being illogical and eventually I am all right.

[jaznicki]

I am absolutly terrified of the dark and have been all my life. I must sleep with the tv on and maybe a lamp,and will not enter a dark room Funny thing,is when i know someone is sleeping in the room with me..i am fine..no care in the world..no TV no light. I dont think it is something that goes away easliy,its a fear of the unknown..what you cant see.I am 23 y.o. and hope by the time i have kids i can get over it so i wont pass it on.let me know what works (if anything) for you.

[Yoite]

I used to be extremely terrified of the dark and think there was something there, but now I can't fall asleep unless my door is closed and there are no lights. Although occasionally I feel the same feeling I did back then. I was usually scared because there were things in my room that were scary at night. I was always afraid that the dolls in my room would come to life and kill me. So, I got rid of everything that was scary.
If there are things like that for you then I suggest taking them out of your room.

Also what really worked for me was daydreaming while I tried to fall asleep. I would daydream about things that I wished would happen or good thing that happened that day. Try that.

Hope this helps!

[BlazeXploder]

Wow, ive left this forum for months and this is still going!

Anyway, just an extra tip:
If it feels like someone else is there to protect you you'll feel better. So the feeling of not being alone in your fights can help you get over it. I recommend the flag of the county, town or state you live in pinned onto your door. My towns flag is a battling towns flag, with swords and shields, and although this seems silly, your patriotic sub-conscious will notice it. It wont help very much, but it does help a little.

OR

Get loads of friends over for a 2 day sleepover, on the first day watch every scary movie you can find. Get physcological horror, get slashers and tht time of stuff. Watch The Excorcist and Saw back to back with your friends in a dark room. Never turn on the light. With your other friends you'll feel more protected and then be able to get to sleep easier. the next day dont bother watching scary movies, you'll get to sleep easier. Then you'll be slightly more conditioned when you sleep on your own.

BUT dont do something silly like watch the Blair witch project and sleep in the forest and then in an abandoned house. You'll never sleep.

[iMm0rTa1]

Anyway this solution worked for me : Think Yourself as The one You are afraid of. -- For me , A Demon ... What can u be afraid of when u are itself ?

Or Get a Cat or a dog lol

[bratdeanna]

I am fifteen and i had been deathly afraid of the dark from as long as i remember to the age of 12 or 13. I used to have such terrifying nightmares that when i woke up to the dark i couldn't focus on anything but negative thoughts while i was trying to think positive (ex pretty balloons lol) but i was just brought back to scary images in my mind. i absolutely COULD NOT look in my mirror or at my window....for some reason it horrified me i think it was the whole bloody mary thing i always heard when i was a kid...i often hid under my blanket and closed my eyes...but that just brought more scary images and eventually i would crawl in bed with my mom.. even in bed with her i would be scared.........i remember wishing i could fall asleep sooo bad. i think i outgrew it with logic..and getting used to all the nightmares to the point where they weren't scary anymore..then i just stopped having them and stopped being scared of the dark...