> Ever since I was a child I’ve been afraid of injury. I fear for the safety of my family, friends and of myself. I’m not sure how this fear started, it could have been from when I got stung by a bee, when I witnessed a gruesome car accident many years ago, or maybe it was just something that I was born with. It doesn’t really matter how this fear was initiated, but it does matter that it affects me everyday. Having a fear of injury isn’t always a bad thing. It has prevented many people, including myself, from doing very stupid things that would have resulted in serious injury, but not havig a fear of injury would make somethings in life alot nicer.
> I learned about injuries at a very young age, and of course I found that I didn’t like them. My first personal experience with a somewhat-serious injury was when I was jumping on a bed and fell off, landing at a bad angle and breaking my arm. Having two older brothers, I have grown up surrounded by injuries. My brothers started play fighting and wrestling with me when I was just a toddler. They never meant to hurt me but were often too rough and throughout the years have given me countless bruises and scrapes. They said it was fun and it would make me tough, sometime it was fun, except for the injury part of it.
> Both of my brothers have had serious injuries from playing sports. My oldest brother, Ian, one time tore many ligaments in his knee when playing football. My other brother Neal was also injured playing football. He fractured his ankle very badly, and had to have three bolts permanently screwed into the bone and was on crutches for several months recovering. Neal also permanently damaged his knee when wrestling with a friend.
> My family has a large yard and is always doing yard work and using chainsaws, tractors and other potentially dangerous equipment. Throughout my life serious injuries and deaths of people I know have not been uncommon, people are always getting hurt. One would think that growing up around so much injury would have made me more comfortable with it, but the exact opposite has happened. I am always scared that a friend or a family member will be seriously injured or worse.
> One day my friend Sarah and I were hanging out. It was getting late and we were wondering what we should do for dinner so I called my mom to find out what she was planning. She answered the phone and quickly said “I’ll call you back in a minute”, there was a bloodcurdling scream in the background; the kind of scream that you only hear if someone is seriously injured. The scream sounded like it was coming from a large man, it was loud and powerful. The scream made a tremble of terror shoot through my body. Sarah, who was sitting right next to me when I made the phone call saw the panic in my face as I was staring into nowhere, wondering “what happened, who’s hurt, are they okay?”. Sarah asked “What happened Lauren?” and I told her about the scream. The thought that someone I know could be seriously injured terrified me.
> My brother Ian had been in town that week. The time that I saw him injure his knee during a football practice flashed through my mind. It was the first time that I had ever watched one of his practices. I was in the bleachers socializing when I heard a scream, just like the one I heard when I called my Mom. Faster than I could take it all in, I was standing next to my brother who was in a hospital bed. “Maybe it is my brother” I thought as my heart started beating faster. Every possible scenario was going through my head as I was waiting for my mom to call me back, which seemed to take an eternity.
> When my phone finally rang, I answered, trying to sound cool-and-collected but failing, I blurt out “Hey, WHAT HAPPENED?”. My mom answered “Hey Sweetie. What do you mean what happened?”. I said “When you answered the phone I heard a scream. Who was it? What happened?”. She answered “Oh, I’m just watching 300 at the movie theater”. My panic was instantly relieved, everything was okay. We laughed about my misconception for a long time. I learned from this experience that I shouldn’t worry so much, and I’ve tried to not panic in during similar situations since then.
