A Voyage of Discovery

          A lot of writers, myself included, often write about the hero or the heroine of the piece engaging in what is termed a journey of discovery.

More often than not this voyage involves them coming face to face with their greatest fears and winning the day, proving to themselves that they are far stronger and capable of enduring way more than they ever believed they would.

Now, all of this looks fine on paper, but how can I in all conscience put pen to paper and write about such matters when I’ve never actually taken a journey of discovery for myself?

I make no secret of the fact that I have three main fears, those being Clowns, Nuns, and Dentists. The clowns I can deal with, although I wouldn’t want to be standing face-to-face with one. As for the nuns, well let’s just say that my wife watches a lot of horror films, and a great many of them feature nuns as the main antagonist. So, my healthy fear of nuns and all things nun is somewhat healthier, though if I’m honest I’m not sure when this fear of nuns first manifested itself.

And then there’s the dentists, my fear of which, stems back to a bad experience I had with one when I was a child. Don’t get me wrong, they’re usually very nice people who have a job to do, but, like the nuns, clowns, and the like, they still scare the crap out of me, but that’s for some other time.

What has all of this to do with a journey of self-discovery? I hear you ask, well, just recently I decided to take the bull by the horns and travelled to Turkey to have full dental implants. Now to some, this may not seem like a very great deal, but when one considers the fact that from the very moment I sat in the chair to the minute I walked back into my hotel room some four hours later, I was shaking like a leaf and close to tears, it becomes a very great deal indeed.

But, I endured it, I weathered the storm as it were, because I wanted to see if I could conquer my fear of dentists. I will admit that at the time, I regretted my decision to have the work done, now I can feel proud of myself because I faced my greatest fear and lived to tell the tale …. Hurrah!

There may come a day when I’m finally able to sit in a room with either a clown or a nun, and to be honest with you, if such a day never comes, it will be far too soon. But, should it become necessary for me to do so for the sake of the art, then I’ll have to do it, although it will be under protest, and I would be kicking up one hell of a fuss I can assure you.

I often wonder how my character would deal with my fears were they ever to face them … I don’t think that this question is going to be answered any time soon, because if I’m not able to sit in a room with a clown or a nun, I sure as hell aren’t making my characters do it.

Shaun McBride