Yawning and stretching and still wanting a bit more of sleep(typical me), I walked into the kitchen to start my usual round of morning chores. As I turned on the tap to start washing the dirty dishes, a voice in my head told me to look down, just below the sink. Close to my left foot, I saw a long, curly, gray tail. My eyes suddenly popped, my heart beat increased, my breathing was heavy. I screamed, "Rat!!!", and then ran out of the kitchen. I was the only one at home. On a cold morning, I started sweating, pacing the corridor. All my thoughts were centered on the dead rat in the kitchen.

With shaky hands and trembling feet(I'm not exaggerating), I walked slowly to the kitchen door and peeped inside.(lol! Behaving like a thief) I saw that I left the tap on. I grumbled to myself"ohhh! How will I turn off this tap now?!" So I braced myself, gathered some courage and walked(more like ran) into the kitchen, stretched from an arm's length and quickly turned off the tap. Then I ran out. I literally ran out of the house. I quickly freshened up, dressed up and ran away.

All these sound silly and somewhat funny right? Well, it isn't to me. I have a phobia for rats and most rodents in general and it is called musophobia. I did a little research on it and this is what I found out; Musophobia is a fear of rats or mice. The origin of the word "Muso" is Latin (mus meaning mouse)

Musophobia is created by the unconscious as a protective mechanism. This mechanism was probably created at some point in the person's past when they had a traumatic experience with a mouse or rat. Everyone experiences their fears in different ways and intensity levels, and some react in different ways, such as screaming, running to different rooms and/or getting to higher ground.(I do all of the above)lol! As with any phobia, the symptoms of musophobia typically include extreme anxiety, dread and anything associated with panic such as shortness of breath, rapid breathing, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea, inability to articulate words or sentences, dry mouth and shaking.

Can anyone else relate to this? What is your phobia? What makes you react like I do when I see a rat? Have you tried to conquer this fear? If you have, please let me know in the comments section below.

xo, Evita.

Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of the image used in this post. It was sourced from Google.