With my sophomore year of college approaching, I made the decision to move into my first apartment. The two feelings that come to mind most are excitement and fear. Don’t get me wrong, after living with my mom for three months on this summer vacation I could not be more excited to head out into the adult world. As the date creeps closer the excitement is fading away and I am building more fear than anything. I recognize that I will now have my own space and responsibilities. Along with an apartment also come the bills, which are not a fun thing to spend money on. No longer will I wander into the kitchen to find the cabinets full of delicious food, or leave with the apartment dirty only to return and find it has been magically cleaned. I will have to depend on the knowledge my mom has bestowed upon me to survive, and survive in a somewhat sanitary manner. The move is making me consider many of my qualities that I must improve. My irrational fear of the oven, along with flying insects are definitely qualities that I should reevaluate before leaving home.
I know that I cannot be the only one who is afraid of the oven. At one point I would double up on oven mitts. I have been practicing cooking with my mom but a girl can only conquer so many fears before she lives on her own. Each time I bake something in the oven, I remind myself that it is not reasonable to spend the majority of my college years eating microwave corndogs and binge watching the Kardashians (or is it?). I have to put my big-girl panties on and learn how to manage an oven in order to make it through a frozen pizza situation, or even when I decide to get fancy and cook the occasional baked chicken. Real adults put food in the oven every day and if I want to be considered one something has got to give. Practice makes perfect and I have to put that food on and hopefully not set too many fires before I learn.
Another fear that comes to mind when I think about moving is my fear of flying insects. This is a fear that will take much more than practice and experience to conquer. It never fails, the moment that I hear a zap of tiny wings against something I cringe and run. It has become a reflex for myself. I often wonder based on this what I will do when an inevitable creepy crawler makes its way into my humble abode. Last year I was visiting my home for the weekend. It was about three in the morning and I had decided that since I couldn’t sleep I would try to take a nice relaxing bath. I got about 20 minutes in and heard the scariest noise that anybody could hear, especially when in the nude, of the zapping of wings against the lightbulbs above me. I quickly jumped out and grabbed a towel and all of my clothes. As I checked out the situation I discovered that it was worse than I thought. A wasp had somehow gotten into my bathroom! I went to get dressed and tried to grasp the situation that was at hand. After I had gathered my bearings I grabbed my brother because that’s what any sane sister would do in this situation. It took us three hours to disable the wasp with Lysol spray disinfectant. We got through the situation without being stung, but I couldn’t help but be reminded that I would now face these situations with my boyfriend who may or may not be equally terrified of bugs.
Moving out will mean bills, ovens and bugs but it will also mean growing and becoming the young adult that I want to be. I have learned that if you've got some patience and time to learn and grow that you're set for success in any situation. Conquering fears are part of life and they should never hinder someone from doing anything, especially fears like ovens and bugs. Leaving home is scary and has many uncertainties but on the plus side it also pushes your independency. Everyone has to do it at some point. Do not be afraid to go for it because even someone as ridiculous as myself realizes that this is something amazing and will be beneficial in more ways than I can count.
