mdlbear | River: Avoiding the phone (Reply)

I had a fascinating conversation with a couple of coworkers this morning about avoiding the phone. R. described herself as "phone phobic", and it brought home the fact that it isn't a phobia at all. There's no fear involved; one simply... doesn't make calls. As R. said later, one simply doesn't think about it except at times when it's impossible to make the call. Or, as K. said, it's something you can do any time, so there's never a pressing reason to do it now, and there's always something else more urgent/desirable/easy/fun to do.

So what is it?

Maybe it's just that it reminds me of or requires me to think about things that make me uncomfortable. That seems to be generally true of things I avoid. It's not just the phone: taxes, anything involving paperwork or finances -- my finances are a trainwreck and I really don't want to think about that. But phone calls? I can see being uncomfortable with calling my broker on some financial matter, but Callie?! What's making me uncomfortable about that?

Maybe it's the whole "I don't want to interrupt anything; I'm not important; why would anybody want to talk to me?" thing. Low self-esteem. That's this month's whipping boy.

Or maybe there is some fear down there -- I already know that I'm not in touch with my feelings. But fear of what? It doesn't made sense.

Of course, if it made sense, it wouldn't be an irrational behavior, would it?