As a little kid, I was always the first one outside to help my dad in the yard.

I couldn't wait to get up the ladder and run around on the roof.

Today I got out there to help with gutters and 2 steps up, I froze. It was a 5' ladder, and I was terrified. Knowing how silly the fear was, I kept going to the gutter, barely able to move from fear. I finished and inched down with painstaking slowness, clutching the edges of the ladder. I moved the ladder over to try again knowing how ridiculous I was being and trying to overcome it, but the 2nd time was even worse. This time my family noticed, since I was moving so slowly. They were as shocked as me that this was difficult. But by the time I made it down the 2nd time I declared I was done.

What about growing up makes us illogically fear things that were never an issue before? Shouldn't we be scared as children, when everything is big and unfamiliar, instead of as adults, when we know the risks are tiny and have done these things before?