Did you know that 20% of Americans suffer from some type of phobia?  A phobia is defined as “is an irrational, intense and persistent fear of certain situations, activities, things, animals, or people”.  (I personally think the percentages have to higher).  There are hundreds of different types of phobias including everything from Denrophobia (a fear of trees) to chorophobia (fear of dancing- pretty sure I suffer from this one).  The list of phobias is exhaustive and can be seen at http://phobialist.com/.

So what is my phobia?  Most of you know that I am scared of animals.  There are several reasons for this fear. The main reason is I didn’t grow up with them.  My sister Megan and brother Ben are completely allergic to all animals with fir or feathers.  This meant that not only did I not live with animals, I didn’t spend much time with them.  Even a…