Thursday, May 6, 2010

Women ( Mainly Moms) Scare Me..

You have heard of arachnophobia-fear of spiders, agoraphobia-fear of crowds. Did you know that Peladophobia-is a fear of bald people. Or Venustraphobia is- Fear of beautiful women. My favorite is Pteronophobia- Fear of being tickled by feathers. Another good one Sesquipedalophobia- Fear of long words.
Turns out there's a name for my fear too..
Gynephobia or Gynophobia- Fear of women. Today I was extremely nervous...like spent an hour in the bathroom kind of nervous. I set up a table at my kids preschool this morning to try to raise money for BEMM and raise awareness about the conditions women in Africa face when pregnant. Now..most of you right now probably think I'm kidding about being freaked out. I write incredibly open on my blog about my life..For the most part I seem like an incredibly outgoing woman. YEAH, unless it's face to face with women or more specifically moms. I have been like this for as long as I can remember. When I am at the park..I play with my kids. Why? Other than I want to...Um, it's to avoid the moms. Right now..I know some psych major who is reading this is having a hay day with my issues:) MOMS FREAK ME OUT. People tell me I should join this group or that group...Um..No thank you. Why? Because they are mom groups. The funny thing is I started an organization to help moms supported by who? Yes moms, women and a few men:). Do you remember that 7 day backpack trip in the Colorado mountains I went on last summer? Was I nervous to hike 40 miles without a tent and face the elements? Oh heck no...I was scared of the women. A group of 12 women..all moms and all strangers. Put together under extreme conditions to draw closer to God. I still think about that...doing that trip was HUGE for me. Going last year to the Orphan Summit and bunking with 6 women (moms) that I never met. That was huge. The funny thing is...I am an extrovert. I LOVE people...I really do. When I go to the store, I say, "Hi" to everyone I meet. I know all the checkers by name and most of their children. It's something about the upper middle class woman that disarms me. After my Colorado trip and last years Orphan Summit..I learned one thing...EVERY WOMAN no matter their socio-economic status..is way too hard on herself and in defense is way too critical of others. I also know that a few will and most won't...A few will "get" you and most won't...A "few" will go against the norm and most will stay with what they know. Most people will do nothing and a "few" will.
And that's okay...My point..other than being a very incoherent rambling of a post is this...FACE YOUR FEARS! And people don't think of you nearly as much as you think about yourself...

oh..so the outcome of my table today...
Most ignored me...(it was quite funny to watch)...but the few that listened..WOW. They gave. $350 to be exact!

It's was so worth it..to get over myself.


4 comments:

Brandi said...

Love you - and here's my confession - SoccerMoms scare me. Mostly b/c their eyes glaze over when I start talking about issues that I care about.

It's one of those "living in the tension" kind of things...ugh I hate it! But it's good too. see :-)

Love you
B

Brandi said...

Love you - and here's my confession - SoccerMoms scare me. Mostly b/c their eyes glaze over when I start talking about issues that I care about.

It's one of those "living in the tension" kind of things...ugh I hate it! But it's good too. see :-)

Love you
B

Beautiful Mess said...

Praise the Lord! That rocks!

Cheryl said...

Steff...I'm soooo happy for you!!!!...You WILL reach your goal!!! I know it!